


Wishful Thinking

by mythomusicians



Series: Side Mythos [3]
Category: All Time Low, Bandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Alternate Universe - Not Human, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demons, Djinni & Genies, Fae & Fairies, M/M, Magic, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Succubi & Incubi, ok this didn't start out as jalex but it kinda turned into it later on oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-04 15:16:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5338817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythomusicians/pseuds/mythomusicians
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Holy fuck, who are you and why are you in my bedroom?" Jack blurted out now that the other seemed to be giving him a chance to speak. "And what did you just do?"<br/>"Oh, right." The other cleared his throat before continuing with something that sounded rehearsed and bored. "Jinn, Genie, whatever you call them nowadays. Three wishes, all that garbage. No wishing for more wishes, I can't make someone fall in love with you, and I can't raise the dead."<br/>---<br/>Jack and Rian do something stupid while drunk and find out there are more than just humans in this world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jack had always been prone to getting himself into trouble. Sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Tonight was no different. He and Rian had gotten rather buzzed and decided it would be a fantastic idea to go break into someone's house. If they were more sober, they definitely wouldn't have even considered the idea, but with their minds clouded, they thought it to be the greatest thrill they could imagine. They never intended to take anything, really. They just wanted the adrenaline of doing something like that and getting away with it.

They'd found a place that looked like it was unoccupied for the night, no cars in the driveway or around the street. It was the perfect target. They'd break in, have a look around, have a good laugh about it, and leave with no issues.

Breaking in was the easiest part. Their drunken minds didn't tell them to check for security measures. Jack thought it a great idea to chuck a brick through the window, that being the quickest way through he assumed. Rian had a moment of hesitation at seeing what Jack was doing, but fueled by peer pressure he was giving himself, he didn't back out.

The two of them climbed through the window rather easily, and once inside they looked around from where they stood. It was really just a basic Baltimorean home. Nothing fancy, nothing of extreme value, really.

Not like it would have mattered.

They weren't going to take anything.

Jack browsed around, looking at some of the antiques, he assumed that's what they were anyway, sitting in the living room, his gaze stopping on an oddly shaped bottle on the side of the entertainment center, beside the television. He picked it up curiously, wondering what was drawing him to it. It didn't seem all too weird at first glance, looked rather just like someone had placed a small wine bottle there or something. But it felt off. He wasn't sure how to explain it. Jack shook the bottle, wondering what was inside, but it sounded to be empty, and the cork in the mouth of it was stuck tight. He tried prying at the cork, but was soon interrupted.

"Jack, we gotta go." Rian looked to his friend worriedly as he saw headlights come down the driveway from through the window.

"Yeah, just a minute..." Jack kept trying to pull the cork, feeling compelled to know what was inside of the bottle, but Rian wanted none of that.

"Dude, we gotta go _now_." He pulled Jack's arm to try and break his focus on whatever he was interested in.

Jack was shaken from his concentration on the bottle, also noticing the headlights now. "Shit, man, why didn't you tell me? Let's get going!"

Rian went to counter with the fact he _did_ tell him, but he didn't want to waste time, so he hurried with Jack back to the window they'd come in through.

Jack was the first to climb through, barely making it out by the time they had heard the front door open.

"Shit hurry up!" Rian called, clambering after him once Jack had made it through. He fell out the window on top of Jack, who shoved him off as they both made a break for it, just trying to get away from the house.

After a few good minutes of running and hopping fences, they made it back to Jack's backyard and decided they could finally rest.

They took a few moments to catch their breath, but when they looked at each other, they couldn't help but start laughing. What a thrill that'd turned out to be, indeed. Short-lived, but totally worth it.

"Ah, fuck, what a rush." Jack grinned at Rian as they headed inside. Rian smiled back before going to gather up his things from having slept over the previous night.

"Worth it." He added in, putting his backpack on and heading back outside, Jack following him.

"See ya at school tomorrow?"

"If the hangover doesn't kill us, anyway." Rian laughed again as he grabbed his bicycle that was propped up against Jack's house.

Jack laughed too as he waved his friend off. Once Rian was out of sight, Jack dug into his pocket and pulled out that small wine bottle he'd been so interested in.

Okay, he hadn't meant to take it, but they were in such a rush that it hadn't registered to him to put it back before leaving the house. But an empty bottle like this wouldn't be missed anyway. They probably meant to throw it away and never got around to it, so really he was doing whoever owned that house a favor, honestly.

What was it about this dumb bottle that seemed to be beckoning to him though? It was probably empty, and the cork was stuck. Part of him said to just smash it against the floor to get it open, but another part of him was telling him not to break it. With a sigh, Jack headed inside his house to his room, setting the bottle down on the table beside his bed. He'll figure out how to open it sooner or later. He laid down on his bed with another sigh, not looking forward to going to school the next day. He knew that waking up in the morning would be hell for him. Jack wasn't really that drunk in comparison to how Rian was earlier, but the hangover always kills. As he closed his eyes to try and will himself to sleep, he felt the bottle calling to him again. It didn't make sense. It was just an empty bottle, wasn't it? Jack opened his eyes and sat back up, staring down the small bottle. Fine. He'll open it, then he'll get some sleep. At least his curiosity would be satisfied that way.

About ten minutes later, after prying and pulling at the cork, Jack felt it budge a bit. Only a little, but it was at least something. With a frown he looked over the bottle again. It wasn't labeled, so he had no clue what could have been inside of it regardless if it was empty or not. It seriously just looked like a small wine bottle. Dark blue in color. Looking over the bottle again, turning it over in his hands, he saw a smudge that seemed to be covering a small symbol near the bottom of the bottle. Jack rubbed at the smudge, trying to figure what the symbol was that was beneath it. Once the gunk that was covering it was wiped off, he noticed the symbol looked sort of like a golden coin. It really wasn't extravagant, nor did it really mean anything in particular to him.

Seconds later though, he felt the bottle shake. He quickly let go of the bottle as it kept shaking. _What the hell...?_

The cork suddenly popped off the bottle, flying up and hitting the ceiling with a loud _thunk_ before falling back onto his bed. There were a few moments where nothing happened, and as Jack went to reach for the bottle, he saw a grayish-blueish smoke coming out of it. The smoke started coming out a bit faster, sort of gathering in one spot beside his bed. It was then that he saw something start to appear. Jack couldn't identify what it was until he noticed that there was a figure forming from the smoke. A person? It kind of looked like a person. As the smoke cleared away, there was someone standing where the smoke once was.

"Wha-" Jack looked at the person in confusion, trying to come up with some explanation for what had just happened. Why was there suddenly a boy standing there beside his bed?

The one in question looked at Jack then looked around where he stood. "Geez, I don't remember the last time I was out." He took a deep breath then sighed, looking back to Jack. "What year is it?"

"Uh, two thousand and four. But what-"

"Oh, great." The boy sighed again, going to wander through Jack's room, picking up a magazine that was on his desk and thumbing through it. "This is what fashion is now?" He thumbed through a few more pages before setting the magazine back down, then snapping his fingers. All at once his wardrobe changed. The rather tattered looking outfit he was wearing before soon became a plain gray t-shirt, dark jeans, and a black and blue striped hoodie. "Better?" He turned to face Jack once more, raising an eyebrow.

"Holy fuck, who are you and why are you in my bedroom?" Jack blurted out now that the other seemed to be giving him a chance to speak. "And what did you just do?"

"Oh, right." The other cleared his throat before continuing with something that sounded rehearsed and bored. "Aurelius. Jinn, Genie, whatever you call them nowadays. Three wishes, all that garbage. No wishing for more wishes, I can't make someone fall in love with you, and I can't raise the dead."

"Aur what?"

"Aurelius." He repeated, a bit confused by Jack's question. Usually people will just jump right into it and demand the riches and wealth of the world, not caring about his name at all.

"Uh, yeah. That's too hard." Jack shook his head. "I can't remember that."

"It really doesn't matter-"

"Alex."

The genie raised an eyebrow, puzzled by what that was supposed to mean. "Alex?"

"That's easier for me to remember." Jack nodded at that, figuring it was close enough to that other name he'd said. There was no way he could pronounce that properly. "Now that's out of the way, what the hell, a genie? Like Aladdin genie thing? That's fuckin' sweet."

The genie didn't answer, still a bit stunned at being given a new name out of nowhere. And mostly the fact that someone had actually cared enough to call him something other than 'genie'. "Alex..." He said again, to himself, admittedly liking the way it sounded. Less syllables, more modern. His name was rather outdated now, wasn't it? Maybe a name change to go with the image change wouldn't be too bad.

Jack picked up the bottle that Alex had come from, looking inside of it and seeing nothing. "What's it like in there?"

"Excuse me?" Alex was getting more confused by the one that had summoned him. When anyone else would call out a genie, they wanted only the wishes. He was just a tool for getting them what they wanted, but this kid didn't even seem to care.

"You live in here?" Jack looked at him oddly. He was still buzzed enough to not register this as an extremely uncommon occurrence.

"I suppose." Alex wasn't used to making small talk with humans. This was all very unusual to him.

"Huh." Jack set the bottle back down before looking at Alex. "Kinda a shitty place you got there." He laughed, "Make yourself at home here, man."

Alex frowned. This wasn't going the way it should be going. "Aren't you interested in those wishes?" The sooner he made his wishes, the sooner he could move on to the next person and continue his job.

"Eh." Jack shrugged. "All I'm interested in right now is some sleep." He grabbed one of the spare blankets from his bed and tossed it at Alex. "As I said, make yourself at home. I'm getting some sleep."

The genie still frowned, not used to these turn of events. "Seriously?"

"Yeah seriously, man. I have an exam tomorrow and if I don't get sleep now I'm gonna have the worst hangover." Jack laid down in his bed, leaning over to click off the lamp on his table.

"It doesn't matter how early you sleep, if you're drunk you're still going to have the hangover." Alex sighed, giving up on getting a first wish out of the guy. He turned over the blanket in his hands, not really seeing the purpose for one. His kind were linked with fire, so he never actually got cold.

"I'm gonna get some sleep anyway." He said with a yawn, closing his eyes and turning over. "By the way, I'm Jack. Night, man."

_Jack..._

Needless to say, this will be chalked up as one of his stranger encounters with humans. Alex went to go back into the bottle as Jack slept, but he seemed insistent on his invitation to 'make yourself at home', so he waved his hand over an empty area of the room, making a small bed for himself appear. He used the blanket that Jack had given him as a pillow, and he tried to get some sleep too, but it was too strange and unusual. Alex spent his time asleep in the bottle, not out in the physical world like this. He felt oddly human like this. He wasn't sure if he liked that. Nonetheless though, he found himself drifting off to sleep with his face buried against the blanket pillow. 


	2. Chapter 2

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The sound woke Alex with a start, having forgotten that he wasn't asleep in his usual place. This was the human's room. Jack's room. He looked around, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to pinpoint the source of the sound that woke him, and that's when he saw Jack's hand knock the alarm clock off his table, but it was still beeping relentlessly.

"Ugh, fuck." Jack groaned, turning over and putting a pillow over his head to try and block the sound. He didn't last long though, and he flung the pillow away and went to lean off his bed to fiddle with the clock that was now on the ground, getting it to stop beeping. His head was pounding, to put it lightly. After a moment of hanging off the side of the bed, he ended up sliding off onto the floor, not having the energy to pick himself back up.

"Uh." Alex looked at him oddly, unsure what to do. "Do you need help?"

Jack made a vague grunt and waved his hand in Alex's direction before saying quietly, "you don't need to yell".

Alex had barely raised his voice. "You said something about an exam?" He made sure to keep it slightly above a whisper this time, but Jack still groaned and covered his ears.

"There's no way I can go to class today." Jack admitted to himself. He'll just have to do the exam after school the next day or something. Yeah it'd cut into practice time, but even if he managed to make it to school in one piece, surviving the day on a hangover is another story entirely.

"You could wish it away." Alex prompted, trying to get him to focus on using those three wishes.

"Dude I'm not an idiot. I'm not gonna waste something like that on this." Jack managed to sit up, looking at Alex. "What's the hurry anyway?"

The genie frowned and shook his head. He didn't like humans. Every human only cared about themselves and their selfish desires. Hardly ever had he ever seen someone wish for something that wasn't for their own personal gain. And this kid wouldn't be any different in the end. The first wish was always something involving money or power. The second was whichever they didn't choose for their first wish. And the third was the one to reverse everything they wished for because they ended up not needing it in the end. That's how it always went, and that's how it's going to go again. They're all the same. "I just don't see why you're waiting."

Jack gave a shrug, managing to stand up, albeit rather shaky with his head swirling from the previous night's alcohol. He sat on the bed that Alex had made appear, sitting beside him. "You can make whatever you want?"

"For myself, yes." Alex shifted away from him, not wanting to have him close. "For you, only three. Which you should be getting on."

"The more you beg, the longer I'll make you wait." Jack grinned at him with a wink before laying down and closing his eyes.

Alex sighed and frowned again, taking the human's advice. If he kept pressing it, Jack would surely take longer to get around to it.

"A genie though, that's fuckin' sick. How'd that come to be?" Jack opened an eye to look at the one beside him, curious about how exactly this was possible now that his mind wasn't totally clouded by alcohol like last night.

"Come to be?" Alex shook his head, not really sure what he could say. He didn't want to share his life with this human. "I'm just a genie, that's how it is."

Jack got the feeling there was a lot more to it, but he obviously wasn't keen on sharing. Didn't mean he wouldn't press the matter though. "What, you were just suddenly born in a bottle or some shit?"

"No, of course not."

Jack sat up and looked at him, expecting more of an explanation.

Alex shook his head again in response, firm in his decision not to tell a human about how he got where he was. "That's how it is." He said again, with a sense of finality to try and convey that he shouldn't keep trying.

The message seemed to miss him. "Well you can't just leave me in the dark. What's it like inside there?" Jack motioned to the bottle. He wanted to learn about Alex. You don't meet a genie every day, and if he's going to vanish after three wishes, he'd like to get to know him before he does.

"No." Alex was getting visibly annoyed with Jack's prodding, not wanting to share anything about himself. Why couldn't the human understand that?

"Come on, tell me something." Jack pleaded. "You've gotta get used to me sooner or later." He went to pat the genie's back, but as soon as his hand made contact with Alex's back, he reeled it away quickly. "Jesus, fuck, you're hot." It wasn't as if he was burned from the contact, but damn if it didn't still hurt.

Alex raised an eyebrow at Jack's comment, cracking a bit of a smile at that.

The human noticed this, thinking back to what he'd said, and he ended up laughing. "In two senses of that word, I guess." He winked at the genie before laughing again.

"Jinn are creatures of fire." Alex explained, ignoring the wink the other had given him. It was common knowledge, in his opinion, so he didn't so much mind sharing that.

Jack nodded in understanding. Even if it wasn't specifically about him, he was rather glad he had decided to finally share something. He shifted a bit closer to Alex, who luckily didn't move away this time. Now that he thought about it, it really was like he was sitting next to a furnace or something. The genie was definitely sending off a sense of heat. "That's pretty cool though." Jack smiled at him.

"It-"

Alex was cut off by a ringing sound. Jack stood back up and grabbed his phone, flipping it open to answer the call.

_"You not going in either?"_

"Hell no. We can do that test some other time." Jack answered Rian, who sounded about as hungover as he was.

As Jack was busy with the phone call, Alex took the time to actually look around at the room he was in. It basically screamed teenage boy in every sense. The posters on the walls were either of scantily clad women or various cars and sports things. There were greatly underused books and textbooks shoved haphazardly in a bookshelf, which was also holding what appeared to be various video games as well. As he waited for Jack to finish the call, he started to space out, focusing vaguely on the guitar that was propped up against the bookshelf as he started playing around his a strand of his hair, a habit he'd had for a while when he'd space out.

"What's all this?"

Alex was snapped back to reality as he looked at Jack curiously. "What?"

Jack pointed to the small pile of guitar picks that were now sitting in front of his guitar.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Uh, sometimes when I space out, stuff just appears." Alex admitted. What he wouldn't admit though is that his magic could be rather unruly when it wasn't used in a while.

"Don't be sorry, it's neat." Jack grinned as he sat back beside Alex again. "Do you play?"

It took Alex a moment to figure out what he meant. "Guitar?" Jack nodded. "I've seen people play. I haven't really gotten much of a chance to do so for myself." Which was honestly more or less of a lie. He had to keep himself occupied somehow while he was waiting for the next human to summon him. Music was a natural go-to for him.

"You should play." Jack insisted. "My friends and I all play and it's loads of fun. Relaxing too." He nodded to himself before standing back up. "Anyway, I'll be back in a few. Just hang here for a while." He smiled at the genie before going to leave the room, heading towards the bathroom to take a shower.

Alex got up and took an actual look at the guitar that presumably belonged to Jack. It looked like it was used a lot. _Must be important to him_ , Alex figured, picking it up and giving it another look over. He checked to see if Jack was back yet, and seeing as he wasn't, the genie relaxed a bit and sat back down on the bed he'd made, guitar still in hand. He absentmindedly strummed the strings, thinking it had a rather nice sound to it.

Alex continued to play, humming along quietly as he did. He wasn't really playing anything in particular, but he did find comfort in music. And with the lack of wishes being made, he needed some kind of distraction to keep his focus on something so his excess magic wouldn't go making more things appear.

"So you _can_ play."

The voice startled Alex and at seeing it was Jack, he quickly set the guitar back down and shook his head, denying it. "I-I was just fooling around with it."

"But you _can play_ dude. That wasn't just fooling around." Jack grinned and jumped on the bed to sit beside him. "Hey, we've been looking for a fourth member for our band. You should join us."

Alex frowned at him. "I'm not going to be here forever." Once Jack made his wishes, he would go right back into that bottle and await the next human to come along that would be foolish enough to clean the bottle.

Jack frowned in return. "Then I won't make any wishes, and you'll just have to stay here."

"No, it doesn't work that way." Alex sighed. He didn't want to share more than what was necessary, but if he didn't say anything there's no way Jack would give it up. "The longer you don't make wishes after summoning me, the more magic builds up."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"This time it was a pile of guitar picks. The next time could be bigger or worse." Alex shook his head, not really sure how to explain it to a human. "A lot of excess magic isn't good, because then I can't control it." He didn't like admitting that something was out of his control. Jinn are supposed to be all-powerful beings who can bend magic to their will. But compared to most others, he was a lot younger and inexperienced with this all. There was no way he'd tell that to Jack though.

"Well just join us while you are here, then." Jack still wasn't going to give up on this.

"Whatever, we'll see what happens."

Jack took that as enough of a success, "I'm going to go visit Rian. You should come along."

Alex raised an eyebrow in question, but after a moment managed to connect that that must've been who was on the other end of the phone call. "I suppose I don't have a choice in the matter?"

Jack just grinned. "Of course you do. But if you decide not to I'll just keep bothering you about it until you agree."

Alex frowned, knowing that could very well be true. It'd be easier to just accept off the bat before it had to get to that point. "Fine."

Jack grabbed his guitar and lead Alex outside, taking his bike and sitting, waiting for Alex to join him. The genie looked at him oddly again, not sure what he wanted from him. "Step on those things on the back wheel and hold on." He motioned to the axle jutting out from the back wheel that kept it in place.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Alex wasn't sure he trusted the human enough with this. Maybe it wouldn't be too late now to go back to his bottle and hide away for a while until he returned.

"It'll be fine. Zack and I do it all the time when we go to Rian's for practice." Jack assured him. Alex was still hesitant about it, but decided to trust the human in this. He carefully stood on the axle, grasping tightly to Jack's shoulders to be sure he wouldn't fall off.

Jack had forgotten that Alex was a walking heater, so when he held onto his shoulders it felt as if he was basically in the process of getting a sunburn, but he ignored the faint burning and started pedaling towards Rian's home. "It isn't too far, so just hold tight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopin' it's all good so far for you guys!   
> xoxo


	3. Chapter 3

It was roughly a ten minute ride before Jack stopped, telling Alex they arrived. The genie stepped off the bike, Jack following suit as he got off the bike and propped it against the garage door. "That wasn't too bad yeah?" Jack grinned at Alex before knocking on the front door.

Alex shrugged. He made it in one piece, at least, so that was a plus. He found himself spacing out again as they waited for the door to open, as a result a few flowers ended up appearing in the front lawn, which didn't go unnoticed by Jack.

"Alex?" He tried to get his focus, remembering what he'd said about the magic stuff happening when he wasn't paying attention or whatever.

"Oh, sorry." Alex nodded, looking at the new flowers that had appeared. At least it wasn't an out of place thing.

The door swung open finally, revealing Rian.

"Hey, Rian this is Alex, Alex this is Rian." Jack introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Rian extended a hand for a handshake. Alex hesitated. He really didn't want to deal with more humans than he was required to. He looked like a nice guy, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to share what he was with anyone other than the one who summoned him. Nonetheless, he shook the other's hand, not wanting to come off as rude.

"Likewise."

When Rian brought his hand back, he was rather confused by how warm the other was. It wasn't exactly a hot day out. Just an average April day. Kind of chilly, honestly. Strange.

The three of them went in, heading down to the basement.

"So get this, Rian, it's fuckin' sweet." Jack started, plopping down on the couch as Rian took a seat on the stool behind his drum set. "Alex is a fucking genie."

Alex gave Jack a look not too far from a glare, but mixed with a sense of bewilderment. "What the fuck, Jack." Alex wasn't comfortable letting someone he just met not even five minutes prior know what he was when it wasn't necessary for him to know.

Jack grinned innocently at him. "We don't keep secrets from band mates. Better to get it all out on the table before you join us."

"I never said I was joining you!"

"But you didn't say you weren't."

Alex groaned, giving Jack a look again before turning his attention to Rian. "Yeah. What he said, I guess." He really didn't want to have anyone know who didn't need to. Alex was also still more than a little pissed off that Jack hadn't asked his permission first before sharing that information.

"A... genie?" Rian thought this was one of Jack's jokes. Genies aren't real. They're reserved for books and movies and all that. Not real life.

"Yeah dude, the whole three wishes and living in a bottle shit too. It's really neat, man."

"You don't need to talk like I'm not here." Alex rolled his eyes. As much as he didn't want anyone else to know what he was, that didn't mean the right to let Rian know what it involved fell with Jack.

"So, uh, have you wished for anything?" Rian was still taking this all with a grain of salt, expecting Jack and his new friend to get him with some kind of 'punkd' thing or something.

Jack shook his head. "Nah not yet. I found this bottle at that house last night and-"

"You _stole_ something?" Rian cut him off. "I thought we agreed not to."

"Yeah, but, I don't know. He wasn't being put to use there or anything. The bottle was just a decoration-"

"Jack, fuck, we could seriously get in trouble for that." Rian groaned, knowing that doing that was a bad idea. Breaking into a house to just look around? What a stupid idea. It was a stupid, drunken idea.

"Dude calm down we're fine." Jack didn't see it as a big deal. It was just a decoration that wouldn't be missed, it was totally okay.

Rian gave him a look, and Jack soon had two people very unhappy with him.

Jack put his hands up defensively. "Don't be angry with me. And to think, I was gonna let you have my first wish-"

"What?" Both Rian and Alex asked, looking at each other before looking back to Jack.

"Why would you let me have the first wish? It's yours, dude."

"Most people wouldn't donate a wish to anyone, you probably shouldn't do that."

Jack still held up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, calm down, one at a time, guys." He laughed a bit. "I can't think of anything I need. And Alex says if he doesn't make a wish soon then something about magic or I dunno."

Rian looked at Alex, totally lost by the situation.

Alex sighed. "The longer I'm out in the physical world like this, the more magic gathers up." He tried explaining. He wasn't too sure how else to put it. "Me being here attracts magic from the area, and if I'm here long enough without using it, it just uses itself."

"Is it against the rules, or whatever, to have a wish be for someone else?" Jack asked, not seeing the problem with that.

"I mean, I guess not." Alex furrowed his brow in thought, trying to think of a reason why it wouldn't be possible. "If you really want to, I don't think there's something that says you can't."

"Yeah, so, Rian you can choose the first wish." Jack grinned at his friend.

As Rian and Jack talked about what he could possibly wish for, Alex watched Jack in wonder. Maybe what he had him pegged as was wrong. Maybe he wasn't one of those selfish types like most humans he knew were. Scratch that, every human. Maybe he could actually be different. His first wish being to help his friend? That's probably the least selfish first wish he had ever heard. Alex was so used to the first with being for material items, he couldn't help but smile a bit at the human. Jack was a pretty nice guy.

"Alex, try to keep a grip, man."

Alex looked to see what had happened, and he saw a bunch of drumsticks at Rian's feet.

"Shit, sorry again."

Rian looked at the drumsticks sitting there at his feet, taking a moment to take in the fact that those weren't there previously. Okay. So maybe this might not be a joke. Maybe he really was some kind of magical being. That totally exists. Sitting on the couch across from him. Okay, yeah. Totally normal.

"Yeah we gotta get a wish outta you soon." Jack laughed as he turned back to Rian. "You think you're good?"

Rian nodded surely, then looking at Alex. "Magic."

"Magic?" Alex questioned, not sure what he meant by that.

"Back in middle school I was really into card tricks and shit." Rian said, still very sure of his wish. "Real magic, though, being able to control the elements and whatever? That's gotta be a lot more exciting than 'is this your card?'"

Alex thought about it for a moment before looking to Jack, who nodded in agreement with Rian. Whatever Rian wanted, Jack would approve. He himself didn't really need a wish. At least not for anything important. It's better off going to someone who knew what they wanted.

"You wish to be able to use magic?" Alex asked, clarifying his request. Rian nodded again. "Are you sure?" The genie frowned a bit. Magic is a cool idea in concept, he guessed, but actually having it was another story.

"Yeah."

"If you insist."

Alex looked at Jack, since it was still technically his wish, he's the one that needed to say the wish.

"Oh, right." Jack sat up straight and cleared his throat, feeling a sense of 'professionalism' was needed. "I wish that Rian could have the ability to use and control magic."

The genie nodded, then looked at Rian and snapped his fingers.

"That's... it?" Jack asked. He expected some sort of theatrics or something. Like magic swirling around his friend and him being lifted into the air or some cool shit like that.

"Yeah." Alex nodded again. "That's all it takes." With a wish like that, that had no real physical changes or anything, it wasn't a big deal to perform or whatever. Alex managed to relax though, since there wasn't the extra magic keeping him on edge. And the fact that the magical sources around had two places to go to now, instead of just the only magical being in the area.

"Do you feel different?" Jack asked, earning a shrug from Rian.

Rian did feel different but he wasn't sure how to go about explaining it. He felt aware of things around that he hadn't noticed before. Like a sixth sense or something. A feeling of something that wasn't visible was actually there. "Kinda." Rian looked around, trying to place what felt off.

"Magic is a strange thing to get used to." Alex explained to Rian. "It takes a lot of focus. You can probably sense the magic around you now, right?"

Rian nodded and looked at him, hoping for more tips on how to use magic now that he, hopefully, could.

"You should start small." Alex continued. In any other case, he would let the human figure out how to deal with their wishes themselves, but.. Jack was different than the other humans. He wasn't selfish. Alex didn't mind helping someone who wasn't doing it for self-gain. "I'm not gonna lie, you'll probably feel exhausted after using magic for the first few times."

Rian nodded again in understanding. "So, how exactly do I use it?"

Alex tilted his head in thought. It was just second nature for him to use magic, it never really occurred to him how it worked, really. "It's pretty easy, I guess. Just have a clear image or whatever of what you want to happen and it will." He never thought he'd have to explain something to someone that he'd been doing for as long as he could remember, since before he was captured in the bottle-

"So, kinda like this?" Rian's voice broke Alex's train of thought. Rian seemed to be focusing on an empty glass sitting on a table, and soon enough, the glass was filled to the brim with water.

"Dude!" Jack laughed and gave Rian a high-five, who laughed as well.

It felt odd. It was a small thing, but he'd already felt exhausted by doing it. Alex wasn't kidding about that it seemed.

"As you are now, you probably only have a small reservoir of magic available to you." Alex cut in to the celebration. "The longer you go without using it, the more you'll have at your disposal, then you can start doing bigger things." He smiled a bit nonetheless though, liking to see the genuine excitement on both of their faces. Even over something as basic as filling a cup with water. He felt happy for his friend's happiness.

_Friend?_

Alex quickly shook his head to himself, trying to reign in his emotions. Friends with humans? No, it doesn't work that way. Humans use Jinn as tools for getting what they want. There can't be a friendship there. Besides, getting close to humans wouldn't be good. Two more wishes and he's gone. Befriending them will only mean he'll miss them when he can no longer see them again. No, he won't allow himself to grow fond of these humans.

"So another thing," Jack started, looking at Rian, "I think we found a fourth member for the band."

Alex frowned and shook his head, still adamant in his decision not to join when his stay won't be permanent.

"Please, Alex?" Jack frowned in return. "At least for a while? While you're still around here with us?"

"Hey, if you can play then we'd be more than happy to have you." Rian chimed in.

With the two pressuring him like this, Alex was finding it hard to stand his ground and keep refusing. After pleading looks from the humans went on for a good minute, Alex caved with a sigh. He held out his hand as a guitar materialized in it. "Only for a bit." Playing with them wouldn't mean he'd be friends with them. He already told himself he won't allow that to happen in fear of getting attached.

Jack gave a cheer, glad that he was able to break him down enough to accept. "It isn't quite complete without Zack, but once he's done with his classes he can join us too."

"Can you sing?" Rian asked Alex, who shrugged in response. "Zack's been carrying most of the vocals, and I know he isn't a man of many words, so maybe you want to give it a try?"

Alex shrugged again. "I guess I can give it a shot." He was still unsure about this whole thing. He'd only played for himself, and definitely not in front of other people, prior to Jack catching him anyway. It wasn't really stage fright. He just didn't think that what he considered to be good was what other people thought.

Rian rummaged around a bunch of papers set beside his drums, pulling out a few sheets and handing them to Alex. "We have some lyrics already if you wanted to work with those."

Alex took the papers, reading over a few lines then nodding. "I think I can manage that."

**::::**

Alex allowed himself to relax and let loose a bit more as they played. Music was always relaxing to him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, even without the bass player there, it was fun playing with Jack and Rian. They seemed to accept and actually enjoy him as an addition, rather, _temporary_ addition to their band. And they definitely put their heart into their instruments, Alex noticed. It was definitely something that both of them loved to do, and he could imagine that their other friend, Zack was it?, would be similar in that sense. They seemed to have good chemistry with each other too. They'd for sure practiced nearly every day, that much was obvious.

"You _can_ sing, dude." Jack grinned at Alex after they'd finished another song, and the genie couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"I guess I'm not too bad." He was okay with being a bit modest with that by now. They obviously thought he was at least decent if they hadn't told him to stop.

"Oh shit, is it already that time?" Rian looked to the clock as it chimed two o'clock. "Zack's going to be done with his classes soon." He stood up from his place behind the drum set and stretched his legs a bit before stepping out from behind the set. "I'll go pick him up so we can get right back to practicing."

Jack nodded, not minding being left alone in Rian's home while he wasn't there. Well, not quite alone now that Alex has joined them. "Yeah, and pick up some late lunch on the way back. I'm starvin', man."

Rian laughed and agreed, giving a wave goodbye before heading up the stairs to go leave and grab his friend.

"You looked like you were enjoying yourself." Jack commented, leaning back on the couch as he addressed Alex.

"You guys are good." He said. He hadn't played with anyone before, so he didn't have much to compare it to, but it just felt right to play with them. Alex allowed himself to lean back on the couch as well. "If you don't mind me asking, what got you started?" He figured that if Jack was allowed to ask him questions, he should be able to do the same.

"I mean, I've been interested in music for nearly half my life now." Jack looked at Alex as he spoke. "Something about being out on a stage with your best friends, it just seemed like something I wanted to do, y'know?" He sighed as he continued. "And all the perks that would come with it, too."

"Perks?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Getting to travel around, doing what you love. And the chicks, of course." Jack grinned. "No one can resist a man in a band, right?"

Alex laughed. "Yeah, a girl totally can't resist a guy who is around other guys twenty-four seven."

"Seriously, man." Jack frowned a bit. "People wouldn't be able to resist a guy like me when I'm an international star in a band."

Alex gave a shrug, not seeing the big deal with 'getting chicks' or however he had put it.

After a little while of silence on Jack's end, he finally says, "I think I know what I want for my second wish."

Alex raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Already?" He couldn't imagine where he was planning on going with this. He did have enough magic for a second wish, so if he really wanted something, it could be done.

Jack nodded surely. "I want to be irresistible. I want people everywhere all over the world to love me."

Alex frowned in confusion. That... was a rather vain request. Maybe he was just hearing it wrong. "Irresistible?"

"Yeah, like girls fawning over me left and right." Jack grinned a bit. "Wouldn't that be fuckin' sweet?"

Alex's frown grew more. Maybe he didn't mishear him then. Maybe Jack wasn't as selfless as he had guessed he was. No, he's just like all the other humans he's met. No human was truly selfless, anyway. He was probably just trying to do Rian a favor with that first wish so he could owe him later or something. To think that he'd actually thought this kid would be different from every other single fucking human he's met.

_You're all the fucking same._

"Yeah, that's what I want." Jack nodded again, loving the idea of people finding him to be the most attractive thing they'd ever laid eyes on. He was always rather self-conscious about his looks. Rian would easily land a girl whenever he wanted. He, on the other hand, well, he hated to admit it and wouldn't willingly dare admit it to anyone, although Rian was able to squeeze it out of him a year back, was still a virgin and he worried that he would end up staying one forever. This way, if he's irresistible to everyone, he could have his choice of who he wanted to have.

"Fine." Alex was trying to hold back the anger he'd felt about assuming he would actually be a selfless person. "Make your wish."

Jack nodded, not noticing Alex's mood in the slightest. "I wish I were irresistible to everyone and anyone." He said with a grin.

It took Alex a moment to think about how he'd go about fulfilling his wish for him. There were few things he liked less than humans. If he didn't want to grow attached to Jack, then he knew what he could do for him.

If there was one thing he hated more than humans, it was what he had in mind.

He stood up from the couch, grabbing Jack's wrist to pull him up too. Once Jack was on his feet, Alex held a hand out, and it was glowing a faint blackish color. Jack was a bit confused by this, since the wish that was for Rian seemed a lot less complicated than what he seemed to be doing, but he figured since it was a different thing maybe it required a different procedure or something.

Alex put his hand against Jack's mouth, the heat making the other flinch a bit, but he otherwise stayed still. As Alex slowly pulled his hand away, the dark looking magic seemed to be pulling something out of Jack. Something that looked like a gray-gold stream of smoke. When Alex's hand moved away, Jack felt the warmness leave and was quickly being replaced with a bone-chilling sense of cold. It wasn't a 'hey can you hand me a blanket' type of cold. It was more like 'I've been living in an arctic tundra for ten years' kind of cold. Along with the temperature change, he felt something else changing. His upper and lower back both were aching all of a sudden, and he had a splitting headache. When Alex's hand was fully retreated, he saw that strange smoke sitting in his hand. With his free hand, he waved it over the top of it, and the smoke was suddenly contained in a small bead no bigger than a marble.

Alex looked at the marble before grasping it tightly and turning his attention back to Jack. At seeing his appearance, Alex couldn't help but scowl a bit as he sat back down.

Yeah.

Demons are always worse than humans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o shit o shit o shit


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie i thought i'd already put up the new chapter and i didn't oh gosh i'm so sorry for making you all wait on such a cliffhanger rip in pieces me  
> xoxo

Jack groaned, wondering why he felt such pain. He put his hand to his head to try and alleviate the pain from his headache, and he felt himself freeze at feeling something that wasn't supposed to be there. "Uh, Alex?"

Alex glanced at him, then back to the marble that was still concealed tightly in his hand. "Hm?"

"Why am I horny?"

Alex couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the way Jack had put that, but managed to quickly compose himself. "I fulfilled your wish." He said simply with a shrug.

Jack gave him a frown, moving his hand off of his head and trying to stretch his back a bit to hopefully get rid of the pain that he felt. As he twisted though, he heard a rip and suddenly there were two wings that seemed to start at his shoulder blades. "Wha-" Jack turned around to try and get a better look at them, and as he turned, he also saw what appeared to be a thin black tail as well. "What the fuck?" He started to grow worried at these new things, looking at Alex again, who was feigning disinterest in the situation. "What did you do to me?"

"It was your wish." Alex repeated, finally looking at Jack again. "You wanted to be irresistible to everyone. So now you are."

"But what _am I?_ "

"Go figure that out."

Jack huffed, wondering why Alex seemed to be in such an annoyed mood all of a sudden. He went to head to the bathroom in the basement to look in the mirror and get a better look at what exactly had happened to him.

Jack was floored by what he saw in the mirror. The first thing he noticed was those things on the top of his head. Two sleek looking horns were atop of his head, creamish-white in color, although closer to a black at the base, which started at his hairline, bending slightly as they ended roughly behind either side of his head by the base of his ears. He hesitantly put a hand to one of the horns, still in disbelief that it was actually there. It felt as real as anything else that he’d felt. Jack took a deep breath before looking over the apparent wings. They weren’t huge or anything, but each one was almost the length of his arm. They were black, leathery, and cold like everything else he felt. The upper half of the wings though seemed to match the color of the new horns he had acquired. Aside from that splotch of color, they were not unlike a bat’s. He cursed quietly as he saw the damage that had been done to his shirt from their appearance, though, and removed the shirt before it could end up ripping up more. Once removed, he tried to move the wings, but only managed to move them a little bit, his body probably not used to the new muscles needed to move them. He sighed, thinking that was all, but then he remembered that tail. Jack looked behind him and grabbed the thin thing, this probably being the hardest to grasp about this ‘transformation’. It was long and thin and black, and at the end it reminded him of sort of depictions of a ‘devil’s’ tail. It was pointed at the end, but the longer he looked at it, the more it sort of registered to him that it wasn’t a triangle at the end, but rather a sort of heart-shape. Jack sighed again as he let it go, shifting his pants down a bit so it could be a bit more comfortable there.   
  
As he exited the bathroom, he saw Alex was still looking at the smoke inside the marble. “What is that?”  
  
“Your soul.” Alex answered, still not looking at him.  
  
“My… my what?” Jack sat down on the couch beside him, trying to get a look at it, but Alex turned away from him and closed his hand.

Jack sighed, trying to piece everything together.

Horns.

Wings.

Tail.

Soul.

"Did you turn me into a demon?"

"Close." Alex said, glancing at him again. "More like a subspecies of demon."

"This... This isn't what I asked for." Jack shook his head, still trying to figure out why Alex was acting the way he was.

"Yeah it is. Irresistible to all. That's what an incubus is." Alex opened his hand again, the marble now looking like it was a pearl on a necklace or something. He put it around his own neck, not letting Jack have the chance to free his soul.

"Incubus?" Jack repeated in confusion.

"A demon that is made to prey on others for sexual pleasure." Alex said, looking at Jack. "Therefore. You will be irresistible to them. That is what you asked for, isn't it?"

"You-you screwed around what I meant."

Alex just shrugged. "Maybe you should have specified how you meant before making a selfish fucking wish like that."

"What's your problem?" Jack was getting rather annoyed and pissed off with the genie at the moment.

"All you fucking humans wish for the same fucking shit!" Alex yelled, finally letting go of what he was holding back. "The first two wishes have to do with power, money, what the fuck ever, and the third is to erase it all. I thought that when you gave your wish to your friend, you'd be different than every single damned human I've met before." Alex scowled at Jack again. "But you're the fucking same as everyone else."

"Alex-"

"Let me fucking guess. Wild fucking guess! 'Alex my final wish is for you to reverse this and make me human again'. Then you go back to your happy fucking life with your friends and your band while I'm forced to go back to being trapped until another dumb fucking human comes along and makes the same fucking wishes as everyone else!"

"Alex!" Jack grabbed the genie's shoulders to get him to calm down.

At the contact though, both of them froze.

Alex was still hot to the touch, but it was the only warmth Jack had felt since he did this to him. And he didn't feel scorching hot like he had prior. Something that wasn't freezing cold like everything else has been.

He was warm.

On the other side of it, Alex felt the cold hands against his shoulders, which more or less stunned him. He hadn't felt anything other than heat in the longest time. Alex was able to feel something without it being the same temperature as everything else.

He was cold.

Their sort of trance-like state was broken when Jack's phone started ringing. It took the incubus a moment to break away, taking his hands off of Alex's shoulders to go and answer the phone.

Alex still sat there in a sort of shock as Jack spoke to whoever was on the other end. Cold. He'd felt cold. He didn't even know he was capable of feeling something besides hot or even hotter.

"Hey."

Alex looked back to Jack, who was holding the phone out to him. He took it questioningly.

"Rian says he needs to ask you something." Jack was trying to obviously keep his composure, still thinking about the warmth that Alex was giving off.

The genie nodded, answering the phone.

"Rian?"

"Alex, hey, quick question. Um." Rian seemed to be hesitant about asking. "So, seeing sources of magic is normal, right?"

"Yeah. When you can control magic you should be able to see where it's coming from." Alex explained, trying to figure out what he was hinting at.

"Okay. Right. So. I picked up Zack and he ran inside the pizza place to grab us a pie, and he's still in there now and I don't know how much longer he will be so-"

"So?"

"Uh, is it normal to see the magic coming from a person rather than a place?"

Alex managed to understand what he was hinting at. "Do you see it from Zack?" At the mention of his other friend's name, Jack looked over curiously, wondering what was going on.

"Y-yeah."

Alex swore quietly under his breath. "Can you describe it?"

"Well, I dunno. I mean, it seems different than the stuff I've been seeing." Rian said, "Usually it seems I'll see like the colors of each element around the thing. Like, a source for water magic by a fountain, a source for earth magic at a tree."

Alex raised an eyebrow, honestly surprised by how quickly Rian seemed to be picking up what controlling magic involved. He figured it would take a while to explain what those magic patches stood for, but he managed to figure that out mostly on his own. "And what do you see from him?"

"All sorts of colors. Do you know what it means or?"

Alex frowned, having a vague feeling of what it meant. "Yes, I think, but not specifically."

"Should I be worried?"

"Do you see black?"

"None."

"Then he probably isn't bad."

"Bad? What do you mean- wait, I'll, uh, I'll see you guys shortly."

And with that, the call was ended.

Alex closed the phone, placing it back in Jack's hand. When their hands touched for that brief moment, they both knew they had felt something again, but neither seemed to want to address it.

"So what was that about?" Jack asked.

Alex shrugged, still fuming about Jack's selfish wish and not wanting to answer him. He absentmindedly played around with Jack's soul that was hanging from his neck.

"Shouldn't that be mine?" Jack frowned, feeling uncomfortable that Alex was holding onto his soul instead of giving it back to him.

Alex shifted away and shook his head, hand clasped tightly around the marble. "I took it, it's mine now." He could crush it and make it so Jack's transformation would be totally irreversible, even with the power of a wish. That would definitely teach him to stop being selfish. But he didn't want to do that. He hadn't taken a soul before. And now that he had, he wanted to keep it as a sort of trophy of sorts. That, and he was really intrigued by the color it gave off. Alex hadn't seen many souls, but all that he had seen were a dull gray in color. Jack's though. Jack's had that splash of gold in it. He didn't know what it meant, but it probably meant something important. Alex didn't want to give that up.

Jack sighed, figuring to give up on that topic. "I'm not going to ask you to reverse this."

Alex raised an eyebrow at that, but still refused to look at him.

"I'll figure out how to deal with this. As you said, it's what I wished for, after all."

The genie finally looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. It isn't exactly easy to 'deal' with being an incubus. He'd done this expecting that Jack would waste his third wish on changing back to being human. Jack was supposed to be like every other human. That's why he made that wish. Because he was just like everyone else. But. Was he wrong? Alex started to feel guilt for what he'd done to him. "Jack-"

Alex was cut off by the other leaning against him, the coldness catching him off-guard and causing him to flinch.

"So it isn't just me then." Jack said. "You feel that too."

Alex hesitated, still extremely unused to the feeling of something cold. He liked it though. He didn't move Jack or himself away. In fact, he ended up leaning against him in return. "I haven't been able to feel something cold before." Even things that were classically considered cold. Like ice and whatnot. It had all felt the same to him. But Jack felt different. He could feel him.

"You're really warm." Jack commented. Alex felt like a heated blanket, and everything else felt like ice. He put his arm around Alex's back, and his wing seemed to move on its own to wrap around his back too, shifting him closer, practically on the genie's lap by now. " _Really warm._ " Jack repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. His mind seemed to dull down all his senses besides one.

After a moment, it clicked to Alex what was happening, and he quickly shoved Jack off of him. "You're an incubus." Alex reminded him. "You're going to have to learn how to control that stuff."

Jack's mind still felt foggy, only focusing on one thing: Alex. "What stuff?" Jack asked, voice still rather quiet, sultry even, as he moved closer to Alex again, his wing once again wrapping around him, as well as his tail moving to wrap around Alex's waist to keep him close.

"Jack, snap out of it." Alex tried pushing him away again, but it seemed like Jack's incubus instincts were in full swing and didn't want to let him go. "Jack!" He pushed at him once more. The more Alex tried to push him away, the tighter Jack's wing seemed to dig into his shoulder and tail seemed to coil around him. It didn't seem like he was getting through to him in the slightest. Alex glanced towards the other side of the room, then finding himself over there as his magic allowed him to teleport away from Jack, who had ended up falling over on his side on the couch he was previously sitting on.

Jack remained motionless where he laid for a few minutes, which made Alex worry. After a bit though, he finally sat back up, looking at Alex apologetically. "S-sorry. I don't know what.." His sentenced drifted off as he looked down at himself, trying to gather his senses again.

"Jack. Just-just use the third wish to reverse it." Alex took a step towards him. He hated to admit it, but he didn't want to see Jack struggle with trying to learn how to be an incubus. He was still young, this would be too much for him to handle. He felt more guilty the more he looked at Jack, regretting having played around with his wording and making this happen to him.

Jack shook his head. "I'm not going to be like all those others." He was determined in that, to learn how to deal with the wish that he made.

Even if Alex was to give up Jack's soul to free it, it wouldn't turn him back human again. Once a soul was out of a body, it was much more difficult to put it back in. The only way Jack could reverse it would be through his last wish.

"I made the mistake, I'll learn to deal with it." Jack reiterated, wanting Alex to think differently of humans, even if he no longer was one himself.

"I'm the one that made the mistake." Alex admitted, standing in front of him cautiously, ready to move away if Jack's instincts kick in again. It seemed that the moment had passed though, and Jack looked at Alex again, reaching out to grab his wrist and get him to sit down beside him once again so he could feel the warmth that he missed.

Alex was hesitant but sat beside him once more. Almost immediately Jack was leaning against him again, but there didn't seem to be the same urge from beforehand.

"I'm sorry." Jack mumbled, closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth from Alex.

"Don't be." Alex allowed himself to relax, this time he being the one to put his arm around the other to keep him close. The cold was nice. While he still wasn't a fan of demons, well, Jack was still different. He created this demon, this incubus. Alex couldn't help but feel responsible for him, and for helping him learn to deal with the new instincts that he was experiencing.

"Thank you." Jack said, also relaxing as he was reminded of the warmth that he was lacking. He'll learn to cope with this. He will prove Alex wrong. He wasn't just like everyone else. He'll make his last wish worth it.

Roughly five minutes later, they heard the basement door open, and Jack sat back up straight, although still shoulder to shoulder with Alex.

Jack felt an odd sense of weightlessness on his back at being caught off-guard by the door suddenly opening, and he looked behind him to see that his wings had vanished. Sort of, anyway. They were still definitely there, but they looked rather like mirages. Non-tangible. He put his hand to his head, feeling his hand go right to his head. Jack could only assume that his horns had not-vanished in the same type of way. Jack looked at Alex, who gave a small shrug.

"Don't worry, it's normal. You'll learn how they can appear and disappear." Alex assured him. He was rather relieved that Jack's body had reacted in that way to the surprise though, because that meant that the other two shouldn't be able to see them.

Rian walked down the stairs, followed by who Alex could only presume was Zack, holding a pizza box. At seeing Zack, though, Alex looked at him curiously. He looked back to Jack, wondering if he could see it now too. Jack was indeed looking at Zack, a rather confused look on his face.

On the opposite end of things, at seeing Jack, Zack nearly dropped the pizza in surprise at what he saw. Were those horns? And wings? And a tail? What was going on? Something told him that it wasn't quite a dress up party.

"Hey, Jack.." Rian was looking at Jack curiously, for a different reason than Zack was. He didn't see horns or anything that was stunning Zack, but what he did see was a pool of darkness emanating from his friend. Black. He looked to Alex, remembering what he said on the phone about the dark black magic being relatable to bad, and he took a step away cautiously. "Did, uh, something happen?"

"Kinda, yeah." Jack admitted, shaking his attention from Zack to answer him. "By the way, Alex, Zack." He waved his hand between the two of them, introducing them.

Alex was still looking at Zack, trying to pinpoint what exactly he was. He definitely saw those features on Jack even though they had ‘vanished’. One thing was for sure.

Zack was no human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops i left it at another cliffhanger :^)


	5. Chapter 5

Alex stood up, much to Jack's disdain since his source of warmth was now gone, and went to get a better look at Zack. Rian wasn't kidding about seeing the different colors of magic around him. "What are you?"

"Me?" Zack looked at him then back over to Jack. "What are _you_?"

"You can see them?" Alex asked.

"Of course, they're right there. What-"

"See what?" Rian had a feeling they weren't talking about the dark magic that seemed to be pulsating from his friend.

"Okay, I'll go first." Jack said, looking at Zack. "Alex is a genie."

Alex rolled his eyes at Jack spoiling his secret _again_ , but if they want to get past all this confusion, he supposed it was necessary.

"And I got three wishes. The first one I gave to Rian so he could make a wish, because I wasn't sure what I wanted."

Rian took that as his cue to cut in, but still kept a distance from Jack just in case. "I used the wish to be able to control and use magic. So." Rian shrugged, holding his hand out and making a small flame appear for a moment before closing his hand and putting it out, not wanting to waste the magic he had in case he needed to use it for something more important than just showing off.

Zack watched, bewildered, unbelieving of what he'd just seen. "O-okay.." He found it hard to believe although he had just seen it. "But what does that have to do with-"

"While Rian left to go pick you up, I made my second wish." Jack cut in, looking to Alex with a bit of a smile. "And that little dick twisted my words around."

Alex frowned at him, although he knew Jack said it in jest. "I already told you I was sorry."

"So, when I wished to be irresistible, drop-dead gorgeous, well." Jack frowned this time. "He took my soul and made me an incubus."

Rian and Zack looked at each other before both looking to Alex in confusion.

"Long story short, a sex demon." Alex said with a sigh, going back to sit beside Jack again, missing feeling the cold that Jack gave off. He sat close to him again, and Jack was glad to have the warmth back as well.

"A what?" Rian looked at Jack in disbelief. If that was true, then he guessed that black magic surrounding him would make sense. But, Jack wasn't bad, was he? Jack was still Jack. He still looked like him, as far as he knew.

"So, that would explain those features." Zack said, trying to accept everything that he was being told.

"Features?" Rian looked back at Zack.

"They aren't exactly easy to miss." Zack returned Rian's look, wondering why he seemed so alarmed about that. They were right there, plain as day.

The magician looked at the incubus with a frown, still not seeing any changes to Jack's appearance aside from the black magic. "He still looks like himself, not including that dark aura shit. Am I missing something?" Rian looked at Alex, figuring he was the only one that could probably grasp what was going on here.

Alex spoke, looking more so at Zack as he did. " _Humans_ can't see the real form of demons, angels, and other magical creatures."

Jack raised an eyebrow at that bit of information, focusing his attention on Zack now too. "You're not human?"

"What?" Zack frowned. "Of course I am." He could tell now that this was obviously some kind of prank they were playing. The way Jack looked had to be some sort of costume. What Rian had done with that fire was probably just a lighter or something and he hadn't seen it properly. And this new guy couldn't be a genie, because those don't exist either.

"Hey you don't have to lie to us, dude. We're band mates here." Jack was wondering why Zack kept trying to deny that something was up with him too.

Zack shook his head, not falling for their tricks any longer. "Haha, funny, can we just get to practice?"

"There's magic coming from you, man. Something's up." Rian added in, which just got another frown from the man in question.

"I already told you-"

"Wait." Alex thought about it for a minute. "Do you... not know what you are?"

"What do you mean? I'm as human as the rest of you."

Jack laughed at that. "Not a great example. There's only one human in here now."

"Okay, just stop with this. You guys are starting to freak me the fuck out."

"No, no wait." Alex kept looking at Zack, still trying to figure this out. He was insisting he was human despite all the magical signs pointing to otherwise. He had a feeling he could narrow it down to one possibility, the only one that really made sense with the way Zack was reacting, and the way his magic looked. "Just, uh, humor me for a second, okay?"

Zack sighed, turning his attention to Alex. "Then can we just get on with it?"

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "I want you to, uh, envision wings." The genie wasn't exactly sure how to go about letting him know what he was, but if his type of magic worked in the same way as most, then it should work fine. He didn't know as much as he would have liked to about how his kind used magic.

"Wings?" Zack questioned. He didn't really see the point, but knowing that they didn't seem to be letting this up, he closed his eyes and tried to focus. "Like, bird wings or Jack's wings?"

"Kind that feel natural to you." Alex said, watching him closely to see if there was any change.

"What do you mean Jack's wings?" Rian asked with a frown. He figured it probably had something to do with the whole 'humans can't see demonic forms' or whatever, but he didn't even know to what extent Jack looked different. He didn't like to feel left out of the loop like this.

Zack tried to ignore Rian's distraction, focusing on what Alex said.

_Okay, wings..._ As he went to think of 'natural wings', he was cut off by Jack quickly speaking up.

"Wait."

Zack sighed and opened his eyes.

"You should take off your shirt. Or it'll be a ripped up mess like mine was." He mentioned, motioning towards the ground by the bathroom where his once perfectly good shirt was laying there with the back all torn up.

With a frown, Zack pulled off his shirt after setting down the pizza that was now starting to get rather on the cold side, wondering what they were really planning though. It was probably some elaborate prank that they'd worked on while out drinking the other night or something. Once it was removed, Zack went back to trying to imagine what Alex had told him to.

At first he felt nothing, but then he gradually felt a bit of weight forming on his back, which caused him to open his eyes and look back to see what had happened. They couldn't be serious... They had to be playing some joke. They probably put these on him while he wasn't looking.

"Holy shit." Was all he heard from Rian, which made him start to finally think that this maybe wasn't some joke.

Alex stood up once more to get a better look at the wings that had formed on Zack's back. He grabbed his shoulder, causing the not-a-human to flinch instinctively at the sudden heat on his shoulder, and turned him around. The wings reminded him of a dragonfly's. There were four long and sleek wings, almost translucent but not in the same way Jack's had turned. They seemed to start at his shoulder blades, two on each side, going down towards roughly the back of his knees. Alex gently grabbed the side of one of the wings, helping Zack move them outright instead of straight down against his back. At full length, the wing stretched easily past Zack's fingertips. Alex let the wing fall back with the others, finally coming to a conclusion about what Zack was.

"What..." Zack was still in total bewilderment, trying to move the wings on his own, but having difficulty in moving them from extreme lack of use. "What am I...?" Why wasn't he able to do this before? Wasn't he human? No one had told him otherwise. Wings. Wings were very much not a human thing last time he checked.

Alex had heard stories about his kind, but never once actually met one or seen one. "Zack," the genie started, which grabbed the attention of everyone, "I think you're a changeling."

Zack looked at Alex before looking back to his new wings, still trying to move them. "What-what does that mean?"

"Changelings are a variation of fae." Alex started, definitely sure that this is what Zack was. "When new fairies are born, sometimes the parents will replace their newborn child with a human's child. The reasons why can really vary. They didn't think their child was attractive enough, they wanted their child to have a better life growing up human, they wanted their child to learn emotions from humans that fairies can't comprehend, their own child was sickly so they swapped it with a healthy human child, the list can go on for reasons why it would happen."

"So..." Zack was trying to take it all in, looking away from his wings for a moment to look at Alex. "I'm a _fairy_?"

"Yes and no. You are, but growing up human means that your abilities are severely underdeveloped, and due to this there are probably things you can't learn to do that most normal fairies would be able to by your age." Alex explained. "Honestly, it's very rare to see changelings make it past childhood."

"Why is that?" Jack asked, intrigued by what was going on.

"By the time changelings hit a certain age, they usually start displaying abilities or showing characteristics that would hint that they aren't totally human, and the human parents would, er, dispose of the changeling as soon as they noticed." Alex said, not thinking of an easier way to put that.

"So, Zack was lucky that he wasn't showing those things?" Rian asked, also very interested in what was going on.

"Yes, but it's strange that there wasn't even one ability shown as he was growing older." Alex frowned, trying to think of why that would be.

"Now that you mention it." Zack chimed in, looking like he was thinking about something. "Things make a bit more sense now."

"In what way?" Alex asked, wondering what Zack was getting at.

"For a while, like back when I was in like fourth grade or so, I noticed I could, uh, hear people's thoughts sometimes." Zack admitted.

The genie raised an eyebrow in surprise at hearing that. So he was displaying abilities. It was just easier to hide them.

"When I would look at someone, like, focus on them for a while, I could hear what they were thinking without them actually saying anything." Zack sighed as he continued, not having talked about this with anyone before in fear of being treated as an outcast or something. "A while after that, I sort of learned to control it, more or less. Like I can turn it off and on or something."

"Have you read my mind before?" Jack asked, suddenly very conscious about keeping his thoughts in check.

Zack shook his head quickly. "I don't feel comfortable using that on people I know."

"Could you do it now though?" Jack grinned, wondering if Zack could still do what he claimed he could.

"I guess?" He still didn't feel comfortable using it on people he knew, especially friends, but if he was allowing him to, then maybe it was okay? Zack stayed quiet for a moment, looking as if he was listening to something. "Boobs."

"Ayy, you got it!" Jack laughed, and Rian couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"You always have that on your mind anyway, I could've guessed that too." Rian soon found himself laughing with Jack though, Zack joining in with the laughter as well.

Alex couldn't help but smile at his three new friends. Despite the things they had just learned about each other, they still seemed to be the best of friends. Alex was rather jealous honestly. He wished he could be part of that too. But he wasn't allowed to make his own wishes like that. Jack had one more wish to make before he had to go away. He didn't want to go away. He wanted to get to know his new friends better. Jack was the only person that had summoned him that actually seemed to care about him, opposed to the magic he provided. Even after he's gone, he won't ever forget them. That much was for sure.

Alex was shaken from his thoughts when he saw Zack sit down on the other side of him, and Rian piled in too on the other side of Jack, the four of them squished onto the one couch together.

"Thanks, by the way." Zack said to Alex. He wasn't sure what being a changeling meant entirely, but knowing what he was now gave him a bit of reprieve for explaining how he could do the whole mind reading thing.

"Fuck, man you're cold." Rian said, frowning at Jack, distracting Alex from the beginnings of conversation with Zack.

"That's because I'm a soulless heathen only interested in sex." Jack half-joked, waggling his eyebrows at Rian. Alex saw Jack's incubus features become less transparent and more real once again as his wings moved to keep Rian and Alex close against him.

"Oh, okay. Wings." Rian commented, now seeing what had Zack so freaked out earlier.

"Hey, so how exactly do I make them appear and shit?" Jack asked, turning his attention back to Alex.

"If you are using them for something, they'll automatically become visible to everyone." Alex said, directing that at Zack too, figuring they could piece together that it going away works in the same sort of manner.

"How do you know about all this stuff?" Jack asked, "You're a genie, you shouldn't need to know this stuff right?"

Alex just shrugged. "I just do." Truthfully though, he still wasn't comfortable sharing his life with these three. Even though he would consider them friends after everything that's happened today, Alex wasn't a fan of talking, or even thinking about, his past.

Rian and Zack seemed to accept that as an answer, but Jack was unconvinced. He chose not to press the situation, not wanting Alex to get mad again.


	6. Chapter 6

The four of them enjoyed their more than a little cold pizza, which Rian had tried to heat up using fire magic but it had just totally burnt the slice, so they decided against him doing that again. Alex figured he'd have to show him how to control exactly how much magic he was using or needed to use, so he wouldn't exhaust his magic supply so quickly. Along with that, he should also help Zack adjust to his fairy powers, and then of course the problem of keeping Jack's incubus instincts in check. But, he can't be here forever. Sure right now laughing and eating pizza is one of the best things that has happened to him, but sooner or later Jack is going to need to make that final wish, and his time here with them will be over.

This is why he didn't want to get close to them. He'd get attached, only to be forcibly pulled away from them in the end. Alex sighed, wishing this could just continue forever.

In his time of not focusing though, he didn't notice Jack moving in on Rian like he had earlier with him until Zack spoke up.

"Alex, is this..." He wasn't sure what to say. It didn't look like Rian was trying to push him away.

Unlike with Alex, Jack was able to more or less use his incubus instincts to sort of seduce Rian, for lack of a better word. Actually, that was probably a very accurate word. Humans were much more vulnerable to incubi advances, since they didn't have a particular way to fend them off. Incubi have a certain way of getting into your mind and making you think that you want what they want exactly as much as they do, if not more. It's harder for that to be used on other magical creatures since they aren't they main prey of incubi.

"Hey, snap out of it." Alex shook Jack's shoulder, but he just shrugged him off.

All Jack knew was that his advances weren't being fought off, which just egged him on more, pulling Rian fully onto his lap and moving his other wing that was around Alex to go around Rian like his other was, keeping him from moving away in case he tried.

Zack looked away awkwardly, unsure how he could help the situation, and feeling more than a little uncomfortable about it happening.

"Jack, stop it." Alex went to grab at one of Jack's horns to force him to snap out of it, but as soon as his hand touched the horn, Jack's tail whipped out at him and smacked his hand away. "Jack." He repeated, a bit louder, his hand stinging from his actions though.

Neither Jack nor Rian seemed to be listening to him. Rian’s mind was going hazy, not really aware of what was going on aside from the fact that for some reason he wanted to be close with Jack. The incubus ran his hand against the side of Rian’s face, causing the other to shiver in response.  
Alex’s attempts to stop what was happening were completely ignored, both Jack and Rian being too far deep now for anything to snap them out of it.

After snapping at Alex’s hand again, Jack’s tail moved to Rian’s lower back, pushing him closer against him so they were entirely against each other. He trailed his hand slowly down Rian’s neck, causing the other’s breath to hitch for a moment.  
Not sure what else he could do to stop Jack from doing something that he would definitely regret, Alex held his hand out, a small pool of water forming there before he splashed Jack’s arm with it. It seemed to work, Jack jolting in surprise and reeling away from Alex, tumbling off the couch while Rian was still encased in his wings.  
“Jeez, fuck, Alex, what the fuck was that?” Jack seemed to be regaining his senses back, his wings finally releasing their grasp on Rian. Jack looked at his arm where he was splashed, seeing red burn marks where the water had hit him. Rian sat up, too starting to comprehend what was happening now that Jack’s pull on him was no longer there. He quickly moved away from the incubus, face more than a little red at what had happened.  
“You weren’t listening. I really didn’t want to use that.” Alex frowned.   
“Listening to what?” Jack sat up too at seeing Rian move away from him. “Oh. _Oh_ , shit.” He finally realized what he had been doing, then hanging his head in shame. “I-I-” _How am I supposed to even apologize for doing that?_

“It, uh, it’s alright, man.” Rian managed, just glad that Alex had cut in when he had. “This is just the kind of shit we’ll have to get used to, yeah?”  
“You shouldn’t have to _get used_ to it.” Jack frowned, still totally ashamed of losing control like that. "What was that shit you hit me with?" He asked Alex, trying to get the conversation off of what he had almost done to Rian.

"Holy water."

"It fuckin' hurt, man. Don't do that shit again." Jack rubbed at his arm, the marks still stinging with pain.

"That really depends on you." Alex sighed, feeling bad about having had to resort to that. And it wasn't exactly easy to conjure up that stuff. His magic supply felt totally spent after the day, it starting to affect his tiredness too, despite it only being roughly six at night.

"You okay?" Zack asked, noticing the fatigue of his new friend.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, just exhausted." Even without the magic playing a factor in it, today was a lot more eventful than anything he was used to. It was the first time someone who had summoned him actually gave a shit about him, and that on its own was tiring enough. He wasn't used to having to answer questions and explain things.

"Maybe you should go back and get some rest?" Zack suggested, looking at Jack too, who seemed to be in a bit of a daze as he kept his eyes on Rian. Those instincts were painful to hold back at this point.

Noticing this, Alex nodded and got off the couch, shaking Jack's shoulder to get his attention. "We should get going. We need to get you, uh, situated." Alex knew that the longer an incubus went without what it needed, the want for it would just get worse. It was better to handle that away from the others so they wouldn't become targets.

Jack made a sound in vague agreement, standing up off the floor as his gaze was still on Rian. It took him a moment to snap out of it again, which made him sigh at the realization that if he couldn't find a way to control this, Rian might end up in a bit of trouble. "We'll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?"

Rian nodded, getting up as well so he could bring Zack home too. "Yeah, we can meet up here again after classes?"

Jack nodded as well, and with that they said their goodbyes, Jack put back on his slightly mangled shirt, and he headed back outside with Alex, grabbing the bike from the side of the garage. Alex stepped on the axle once more, grabbing Jack's shoulders as he started pedaling.

**::::**

The incubus seemed to be distracted as they made their way back to his home. "Hey, it'll be okay. Let's just get you home first, yeah?" Alex assured him, but at speaking that, Jack skid the bike to a stop on the side of the road. "Jack?"

"How is it okay?" He asked quietly, looking down at his feet. He'd been trying to keep a positive demeanor about all that's been happening, but putting Rian in an uncomfortable position like that just felt wrong. It wasn't the same as earlier with Alex, because Alex could fight back. Rian couldn't. If Alex hadn't stepped in, he feared what would have happened.

Alex frowned, gripping his shoulders a bit tighter. "It's a natural part of being an incubus. They crave sex, that's just how it is. Don't beat yourself up over it." He sighed quietly. "Just use that last wish, Jack."

"No."

"You're in pain." Alex felt horribly guilty about putting him in this position. The only way he could become human again would be through the wish. Alex didn't have his own power to do that without it being a wish. If he was only a magician like Rian, he wouldn't be able to pull off the wishes he made. Even just as a genie, too. The power of a wish was one of the strongest kinds of magic, and only genies that were bound to a human, or in this case incubus, had the ability to make that happen.

"I'm not using that last wish." Jack reiterated. "You're my friend."

Alex felt a twinge of both happiness and sadness at hearing that.

"You're.. my friend too." He admitted. Leaving him and the others will definitely be one of the hardest things he would ever have to do. Alex leaned forward a bit and gave Jack a hug, trying not to get emotional though. "Thank you for showing me friendship. It, uh, it really means a lot to me."

Jack smiled a bit at that. "What, like you've never had a friend before? Don't get all sappy on me now, man." He laughed quietly.

"I haven't."

"Seriously?" Jack looked back at him in surprise. "Not a one?"

Alex shook his head. "Even before I ended up in the bottle."

"Aha! So you admit there is more to the whole genie thing than living in a bottle your whole life!" Jack grinned, glad he was slowly managing to get Alex to share some things about himself.

"Wha-what?" Alex frowned and ended the hug, just going back to holding his shoulders. "Just keep heading home." He dismissed the topic, still not wanting to share with Jack. He hadn't meant to say anything. Alex had just found himself comfortable with Jack and it just kinda slipped out. But he won't do that again.

**::::**

A little bit later, they made it back to Jack's house, and they headed to his room. Jack sat on his bed, stretching out before lying down.

"Nope, get up." Alex said, tugging at his wrist. "You need to get that stuff out of your system before you do something you'll regret." Especially considering he was going back to school tomorrow, around literally hundreds of humans. None of them would be safe with him in his current state.

Jack sighed as he sat back up, listening to Alex.

"You need to go out there and find someone to, er, alleviate your urges."

"That... seems wrong." Jack said uncomfortably. To do something like that with someone who was probably unwilling? It felt wrong. It felt dirty.

"It comes with being an incubus." Alex said. "Besides, if you give in to your instincts, they'll be more than happy to comply with you."

"It still feels _wrong._ " Jack said again, shaking his head.

"Okay, look. You've got three options here." Alex said, which fully grabbed the attention of the incubus. "Number one, you go find a pretty girl out there and do what you need to do. Two, ignore your instincts and risk going rampant when you're in school tomorrow. Three, use your last damned wish, Jack." The genie had a feeling the third option would be the least painful of all the others. For Jack anyway. Probably the most painful for himself though.

Jack frowned, not liking any of the options. He was still adamant about not using his final wish to reverse this. The obvious answer would then be the first option, but it just sat wrong with him. "Fine. I'll go with door number one."

"Jack, really, don't worry about it." Alex assured him, trying to help him work through his doubts and dislike of the idea. "They won't even remember it. You'll do what you need to, then that's that." He sat down beside Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder for reassurance. "Jack, it'll be fine."

"Fine." He said again, standing up and taking a deep breath. Might as well just get down to it.

"Come back safe." Alex said, giving him a smile for reassurance.

"Yeah, thanks." Jack responded, taking another breath before leaving the room behind.

**::::**

While Jack was gone, Alex took the time to lay down and close his eyes. He wasn't particularly tired, but he was definitely exhausted. The day had taken a lot out of him and he needed time to recharge. Out of all the things that happened though, the biggest surprise was Zack turning out to be a changeling. He was lucky that it was mind reading that turned out to be his first fairy power. If it was something like an elemental magic or suddenly acquiring his wings, he probably wouldn't have lived as long as he had. But this just meant that now that he knows he is basically an abandoned fairy, he should learn how to properly use that magic. Alex was rather excited to learn about it along with him, honestly. He'd met fairies before but most of them seemed to keep to themselves and stay away from other people. Which made sense now. Zack wasn't a very talkative guy, and being a fairy could explain why that is, even if he was unaware of it himself.

As for Rian, he was rather lucky that Alex knew so much about magic already. Magicians used magic in a different way than genies, they were definitely limited by still being human, but it came down to the same principles. Alex would have to show him how he can channel the magic from certain sources to perform certain things. And now that Jack was basically an overflowing dark magic source, Rian could technically channel magic from him. Alex never had a reason to be a mentor to someone before, and now that he has the opportunity, it's really rather appealing.

He couldn't wait to see the progress Rian would make, and how exactly fairies function.

But then once again, it hit him hard.

_I'm not going to be here much longer, am I?_

Even if Jack wasn't going to use the last wish to reverse what he was, he would have to use it eventually. He gives it two days, maximum. At that point, if Jack hadn't made a wish, Alex would be overflowing with so much magic that even dazing off for a second could make some bad things happen.

It really did hit hard. He didn't want his times with the three of them to end. This was the exact reason why he didn't want to get close to them. But he couldn't deny it. They were his friends. Jack, Rian, and Zack. They were his first friends, who seemed to care more about him rather than just what he could do. To leave them seemed like an impossible thing to do, but it had to come sooner or later. Alex found himself starting to get emotional over it, starting to tear up a bit. He covered his face with one of the pillows on Jack's bed, trying to will the emotions away, but it just hit harder, and he found himself in a full-on cry-fest. He grabbed the pillow tightly as if holding onto it was all that he knew, sobbing against it.

He didn't want to leave.

It would hurt too much. It already hurt too much, and he wasn't even gone yet.

"I-I wish I could stay.." He whispered between sobs to no one.

Wishes didn't work that way. Genies weren't allowed to make their own wishes.

And it hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ur welcome for pain :^)   
> xoxo


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to update  
> been doing a lot of world building on the side  
> pls forgive!!  
> xoxo

It felt like ages before Alex heard the bedroom door open again. The genie had worn himself out with the crying, still holding onto the pillow tightly against his face. He felt someone get on the bed too, laying beside him. Feeling the cold, Alex assumed it was Jack that had returned. After a few moments, Alex finally moved the pillow away to look at his friend. "You feeling better now?"

Jack nodded quietly, wrapping his arms around Alex to keep his warmth close. Alex didn't push him away, not having the energy to do so. Jack must've been telling the truth, since it didn't seem like he was having trouble controlling himself anymore. "Uh, she didn't seem to remember a thing." Jack said after a minute, sighing as he squeezed Alex tightly. He really didn't want to talk about it right now. He was still trying to process all that had happened. Shortly after though, he loosened his grip on him and sat back up, noticing something that could take the conversation away from himself. "Were you crying?"

"W-was I-"

"Your eyes are all red, man." Jack commented, grabbing Alex's wrist to force him to sit up too.

"No, I'm fine." Alex insisted, rubbing at his eyes absentmindedly. Honestly, he just felt numb and worn out.

"Stop being so fucking avoidant." Jack frowned. "I'm your friend, you can trust me."

Alex tried to change the subject. "Did everything go okay?"

"Alex stop it. We can talk about that later." He said, not letting the topic change. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing is wrong, Jack! Stop pressing it!" Alex felt his voice crack at the end there, which wasn't helpful towards his argument.

"Please, Alex, you can trust me." Jack kept insisting, refusing to let the genie keep it to himself. "There's something bothering you."

Alex looked at Jack for a good few minutes before sighing quietly, not sure where to begin. He felt his eyes stinging with imminent tears once again, and he allowed himself to lean against Jack, who gave him a tight hug in response.

"I don't want to leave." He admitted quietly, hugging him in return as he felt a few of the tears start falling again. "I don't want to go back to being trapped in there." He hugged onto him tighter, finding Jack's coldness to be oddly comforting. "You guys are my friends, a-and..." Alex felt the tears start falling faster again, and he instinctively buried his face against Jack's chest as he finally started crying again. "I-I don't want to leave.."

Jack kept Alex close, rubbing his back to help him calm down. His tail moved to help push Alex onto his lap, but it hardly felt sexual or anything like that as it had been before. His wings wrapped around the genie protectively once he was close, and he hugged him tighter. "I don't want you to leave either." Jack said over the sounds of Alex's crying. He was glad that Alex seemed to enjoy his and the other's company so much, that they left enough of an impact on him to cause him to act this way at the thought of leaving.

Alex managed to calm down after a few minutes of crying again, although feeling totally exhausted from it. "Sorry.." Alex mumbled quietly, going to move away but being kept securely in place by Jack. He didn't have the energy to fight back or get annoyed that he wouldn't let him go.

"What was life like before the whole bottle thing?" Jack asked, wanting to get a background about his friend's life.

Alex hesitated, still not really fond of the idea of sharing his life with anyone. But he had a feeling if he didn't say at least something, Jack wouldn't be letting him go. "Free." He started, closing his eyes and allowing himself to think back. "I did a lot of reading, kind of kept to myself. But I enjoyed it." Alex gently leaned his head against Jack's shoulder as he continued. "Music too. It was, uh, pretty carefree. A pretty decent life, I guess. But then there was a human. Every instinct told me to go and hide and keep away from humans, but I didn't run off like the others when he found me. Before I knew it, he was holding that bottle-" Alex nodded his head towards the bottle sitting on the bedside table still. "And was saying a curse to trap me inside."

Jack frowned, still keeping him close. That would probably explain the beginnings of his dislike for humans, it seemed.

"Been there since."

"How long is that?"

Alex shook his head. "Years. Hundreds of years." He honestly had lost track, finding it harder to think back to the details of his life before it.

Jack loosened his grip on Alex so he could move away, but Alex just shook his head again, wanting to stay close to Jack still. He found the cold to be comforting and safe. Or maybe he just found Jack to be that way. Either way, he chose not to move off of his friend's lap.

The incubus smiled a bit, glad he was able to get Alex to share a bit about himself. "Thank you for trusting me."

Alex nodded quietly in response, starting to feel himself drift off to sleep, before he heard Jack speak.

"Is it okay if I make my third wish?"

Alex felt his heart drop as he allowed himself to look at Jack. "Wh-what?" He asked, trying not to sound as broken as he felt at hearing that. His voice didn't do him justice in hiding how he felt about that.

"It's really important to me." Jack said, which caused Alex to push himself away from him, feeling even more broken up. He didn't get to say goodbye to Rian or Zack, and he still had so much left to teach them. But, he couldn't exactly say no if Jack wanted to make his last wish, that would ultimately cause him to have to go back into the bottle. He battled with himself, unsure whether to feel sad or angry about this. After a moment, he decided with predictable. Jack was probably just making it less painful by choosing to make the wish now before he spent another day with Zack and Rian which would make it harder for him to leave.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, trying not to show how hurt he was by this, but doing a pretty crappy job with it.

Jack reached over and grabbed the bottle, holding it tightly in his hand. "I wish-"

"Ah, wait, sorry." Alex cut him off, taking Jack's soul off of his neck and placing it beside the incubus. "You'll, uh, probably want to keep that.." If he was going to go away for another hundred years or so, Jack deserved to hold onto his own soul.

Jack shook his head, picking it back up with his free hand and placing it in Alex's hands again. "You hold onto it."

Alex felt totally stunned by that. Jack trusted Alex enough to keep his soul safe, even when he couldn't see him any longer. Alex gripped it tightly, sighing quietly. "If you insist.."

Jack cleared his throat as he continued. "Alex, I wish for your freedom."

Alex thought he misheard him. Did he just-   
"You _what_?" He asked quietly, looking at him.

"Your freedom." Jack repeated, giving him a smile.

"My..." Alex was completely floored by his last wish, he wasn't even sure how to react. This is what he wanted to use his last wish for? Out of all the things in the world he could wish for, he decided to go with one of the most selfless things he'd ever heard. "My-my freedom...?"

Jack nodded, still smiling. "I wish for you to no longer be bound by this thing." He said, waving the bottle around. "I wish for you to spend more than a few more days with us. I wish for you not to leave." Before Alex could ask, he added, "and yes I'm sure this is what I want."

Alex was still stunned by the request. He could wish for anything, literally anything, and he chose this. He took a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath before waving his hand across himself slowly.

"Well? Did it work?" Jack asked.

Alex felt as if a literal weight was taken off of him and he looked at Jack, trying hard to keep his emotions at bay but failing horribly. "Thank you. Thank you so much." Alex leaned forward and gave him a tight hug again, unsure how else to react.

Jack assumed it worked, since Alex was still here as opposed to being sucked back into the bottle. The incubus laughed and hugged him tight in return. The hug didn't last long though as Jack pulled away, handing the bottle to Alex. "You don't need it anymore right?"

Alex grabbed the bottle from him and smashed it against the ground without a second thought, smashing it into hundreds of tiny pieces. "Fuck that thing." He said with a small laugh before turning his attention back to Jack. "I can't possibly thank you enough."

"Don't worry about it." Jack said, just glad that he could help Alex out. "If you didn't want to leave, I could've done that hours ago for you, man."

Alex smiled again. That was the absolutely least selfish wish he had ever heard of.  

Jack laid down and held his arm out for Alex to lay beside him, knowing that they both enjoyed the vast difference in temperature they gave off. Alex complied, laying down with his back against Jack's chest and letting Jack hold him close.

"Hey, you know this means you're stuck like this now." Alex frowned a bit. "The whole incubus thing."

Jack shrugged. "It isn't too bad." He admitted.

"But I shouldn't have done that to you." Alex said, still frowning. All Jack had done was be nice to him, and he repaid him by turning him into a soulless being. That's hardly good grounds for friendship.

"Come on, man, it's in the past." Jack mumbled, kind of tired of hearing Alex's guilt. "It happened, whatever, we can move on." He was never really much of one to dwell on the past. Now that he was starting to get a better grip on these instincts of his, he figured that it'll just get easier from here on out.

"But Jack, really, thank you so much." Alex said again, unsure how else he could show how grateful he was to the incubus. He knew this meant that he could very well up and leave whenever he wanted, but he still felt totally indebted to Jack for making that final wish. That, and he really did enjoy the company of the others. He really could stay with them now. He wouldn't be forced to leave, be forced apart from them, or have to meet another selfish human that made the same three wishes as always. For the first time in hundreds of years, Alex could genuinely say that he was looking forward to tomorrow.

**::::**

When the alarm clock started buzzing, Alex opened his eyes to find himself hanging off the bed, nearly on the floor, with Jack's foot embedded in his side. "Fuck man, get up." Alex sat back on the bed, giving Jack a push to make room. Jack was basically sprawled out like a starfish on the bed, at some point having replaced Alex's warmth in his arms with a pillow.

Jack groaned and turned off the clock, stretching out which earned Alex another kick in the side.

"Jeez, fuck." Alex frowned, kicking him back which finally made Jack aware of his presence.

"Oh shit, man. Sorry." Jack laughed tiredly, sitting up and running his hands through his bed head hair, trying to straighten it out a bit. "I, uh, I'm a bit of a bed hog."

"No shit?" Alex sighed, making a reminder to himself not to fall asleep beside Jack again. Jack laughed again and leaned against Alex tiredly, who just pushed him away immediately. "You have class."

Jack frowned at the genie. "Such a killjoy, man." With that though, he sat up to get changed into some decent clothes, knowing Alex was right and he really should be getting things together for school.

"So." Alex started, still sitting on the bed as Jack was getting his things together. "How was last night?" He couldn't help but be curious about what he had done. It was his first time as an incubus, so it probably was more thrilling than anything else he had done. Incubi always had a way of making things both more romantic and sensual.

Jack gave a shrug, still not really wanting to talk much about it. "Fine, I guess."

"You guess?" Alex raised an eyebrow, wondering what was up with him. He was expecting Jack to be one of those people who wouldn't skip out on a single detail about what had happened.

The incubus shrugged again in response.

"Well, it was better than your previous times of course, right? That's kinda an incubus thing." Alex kept prying. If Jack was able to pry into his life, he should be able to do the same.

"O-oh yeah, of course." Jack gave a small laugh, not wanting to dare admit he was a virgin until last night. "Totally."

Alex gave him a look. "You do have something to compare it to, don't you?" He was getting a feeling that Jack was hiding something.

"Y-yeah, man." Jack shrugged his backpack on his back, turning away from the genie quickly.

"Whoa, wait dude." Alex totally got the hint. "Was that _your first time_?"

Jack ignored his question, which answered Alex's question just fine.

"If it was your first you gotta remember it, man." Alex said, still prying into the situation. "What was her name? What'd she look like? How-"

"Alex, please, I really don't want to talk about this." Jack turned to face him again before looking away once more. Alex noticed his face seemed to be holding a certain emotion. He looked guilty as fuck about something.

"Did something happen?"

Jack shook his head.

"You _did_ go out to someone last night didn't you?"

"Alex, really-" Jack sighed as he looked at him once more.

"What happened?" Alex was more concerned now than curious. Something felt off. If he was lying about going to satisfy his urges, there was no way Alex was going to let him leave for his classes.

Jack kept looking at him, guilt still embedded in his face. As much as he didn't want to admit what had happened, he didn't feel comfortable lying about it. "I-" Jack looked down, biting his lip. There wasn't an easy way of putting this, was there? "After we came back from Rian's house, I, uh, went back. I went back to Rian."

Alex stayed quiet for a few moments, connecting what had taken place. "Rian?"

Jack nodded, risking a look back at Alex. "He, uh, he was on my mind all night, man. I just kinda found myself there."

Alex sighed, unsure how to handle this. Since Rian was still human, if Jack really was using his incubus tendencies then Rian wouldn't remember a single thing. Rian would be none the wiser if Jack didn't tell him about it. "You're gonna have to tell him." He said after a minute.

Jack shook his head quickly, still feeling so guilty about what occurred.

"What was that about bandmates not keeping secrets?" Alex asked, which seemed to catch Jack's attention. "If you don't tell him, then your guilt will tell him. Or Zack could find out from reading your thoughts. Lay it all out on the table." Alex warned. If there was one thing he knew about human nature, it was their urge to distrust people at the slightest of things. Logically if Jack were to just let him know, they could work it out easier than if he found out through someone else later.

Jack wavered for a moment, unsure what to do next. Alex was right. If he didn't tell him, the guilt would just eat him alive. He took out his phone and dialed Rian's number.

"You're going to tell him _via phone call?_ " Alex frowned in disapproval.

Jack rolled his eyes and ignored him. "Hey, Rian, mind if I detour to your place before we head out for school?" He looked at his clock, seeing as they still had about an hour before classes started. He could bike on over to Rian's, talk to him about what happened, then head to school with him no problem.

Rian gave him the okay to do so, and Jack hung up. "I have a bit more dignity than that, Alex." He said, feigning feeling hurt over what Alex had assumed of him.

This time Alex was the one who rolled his eyes. "You should get going then."

"You aren't coming?" Jack asked him. It'd only been slightly more than twenty four hours, but he didn't want to leave Alex.

"I don't go to your school." The genie reminded him.

"Please?"

Alex thought about it for a moment. "I suppose I could." He could probably make himself invisible to the other humans. He could handle that magic.

Jack grinned and gave him a tight hug, enjoying the warmth for a moment before breaking it and beckoning Alex to follow him out his room and out to his bike. It set him at ease knowing that Alex would be there with him. He just hoped that Rian wouldn't be too freaked out by it all.


	8. Chapter 8

They rode to Rian's in a similar fashion as the previous day, and they saw Rian standing outside and waiting for them. Already it looked like Jack's guilt was starting to kick in, at just seeing his friend. On the other hand, Rian didn't look much different aside from looking more than a little tired. Alex felt a bit relieved about that. It meant that Jack's incubus seduction had worked just fine, and Rian really didn't seem to remember what happened.

Jack, though.

Jack remembered every little detail. The sounds he'd made, the way Rian looked as he was beneath him-

"Hey man. You wanted to talk about something?" The magician prompted, flinging his backpack over his shoulder and grabbing his own bike.

"Uh, yeah." Jack wavered again, trying to shake his memories, unsure how he was supposed to go about admitting to something like what he'd done. "So, last night after we left-"

"Right, yeah, how was that?" Rian waggled his eyebrow at him. "Was your first time everything you hoped for and more?" Jack hesitated again, looking at Alex for some sort of support to back him up. Misinterpreting the glance, Rian's eyes grew wide. "Was it with Alex?"

"No!" Alex was quick to defend himself, which earned a look of 'yeah right' from Rian. "It was you." The genie said, not wanting to beat around the bush now that his own integrity was called into question.

Jack bit his lip unsurely before looking back at Rian, who was looking rather confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It-uh-I'm an incubus, Rian." Jack tried to explain. "It-it just kinda happened."

"Wait, what?" Rian thought this was all some sort of joke, but seeing the look of guilt on Jack's face seemed to prove otherwise. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked again, a bit more demanding.

"Jesus, fuck Rian. Don't make me say it."

"No, say it." Rian's voice was clearly unhappy, although he definitely disbelieved it.

"Last night I came back to your house and-" Jack sighed, "And I incubus'd the fuck out of you, man."

Rian stood there staring at Jack in disbelief before thinking back, trying to remember what had happened after he brought Zack back to his own home. He got back home, and not five minutes later he had heard a knock on his bedroom window. And when he went to check it... That was it. He couldn't remember anything else. From then until waking up this morning, he could not remember a single damned thing. It made sense. He didn't like that it did, but it had. "And... And I don't remember it." He posed it as a question, but his voice was still trying to comprehend the things going on in his head and it came out sounding rather cold.

"I guess not." Jack frowned a bit, hating to have to admit that to his friend.

Rian narrowed down his emotions to two things, the first being complete anger. "What the fuck, Jack? Why me? Out of literally anyone in this town-"

"I-it was my first time, man." Jack hated admitting that aloud. "I guess I was thinking I didn't want my first time to be with some chick on the side of the road."

"Dammit, Jack." Rian groaned, wanting to stay mad at his friend. He had plenty of reason to be angry with him. He would be justified in conjuring up a giant thunderstorm to strike at Jack. He wanted nothing more than to scream 'fuck you' to his friend. But that was just it. He was his friend. And he'd come forward and told him the truth. " _Dammit,_ " he repeated, the second emotion being unable to hold back. "H-how was it?"

"Excuse me?" Jack was expecting literally all of hell to let loose, and that was the last thing that he had thought would happen.

"Was it good?" Rian asked, his curiosity digging at his skin. "D-did you enjoy it?"

Jack was unsure if it was a rhetorical question or not. Was this Rian's way of being angry with him? "I guess?"

" _You guess?_ " Rian asked, "really?"

"Hey, did he just call you a bad lay?" Alex laughed, trying to diffuse the awkwardness and anger built up in the situation.

"What-no, that isn't what I meant!"

"Then _how was it_?" Rian was dying to know. He couldn't remember a single thing about what had occurred.

The incubus hesitated before realizing it really was okay for him to answer truthfully. "Rian, fuck, it was fucking amazing." He admitted, allowing himself to laugh a bit as he nervously ran his hands through his hair, still on edge about how Rian was probably going to get him back for it.

"I wouldn't have accepted an answer any less than that." Rian said half-seriously. Jack was his friend. He couldn't stay mad at him for something he couldn't control. The situation still felt rather uncomfortable to him, the fact that he had slept with Jack and had literally no recollection of it. Yeah he was still pissed, but he'll just find a way to get him back for what he did. Now that he has magic, he could definitely get him good.

The incubus let out a shaky sigh, glad the worst was over with. It could have ended very badly. He was also glad he had listened to Alex's advice. Jack wasn't sure if he could have gone the entire school day with that guilt hanging over him.

"You guys should get going." Alex said, figuring they would be cutting it close to the bell at this rate.

As Rian got on his bike and pedaled alongside Jack, Alex still using the pegs as a stand for himself, he couldn't help but ask, "so, what happened?"

<+><+>

On their way to their school, Jack did not spare a single detail. Every piece of it was etched into his head. It felt wrong because it was Rian, but the guy wanted to know and he wasn't going to deny him the facts if he really wanted them. He explained how Rian reacted to his touches, of both hands, mouth, and otherwise. He tried his best to mimic the sounds and the faces he'd made. He told him how long they'd lasted. He even managed to prove it by rolling up his sleeves and showing him the scratch marks he'd made on him, and Rian became suddenly very aware of large hickeys at the base of both of their collarbones, wondering why he hadn't seen them on himself earlier. "Fuck, Jack." He really wasn't kidding about that was he? He felt his face flush red at seeing them, the proof making the reality hit him. Luckily his shirt could cover the marks with ease, and he just hoped that they'd go away soon. Jack on the other hand was rather proud of them. They had both sufficiently marked each other up which was proof of it. He wasn't going to go around parading it for everyone to see, but it was a reminder to himself about what happened in case he ever found himself forgetting.

As they locked their bikes up on the racks and hurried to their classes, Rian called out to him, "oh, yeah, Jack, don't you fucking do this again."

Ah well. It was fun while it lasted, Jack supposed.

<+><+>

Jack made it to his class just as the bell rang, Alex sneaking in with him completely unnoticed by anyone else. He'd been able to use his magic to make himself invisible to anyone, but Jack was still able to see him, or rather sense him, likely because Alex still held onto his soul. While it was technically not a part of him anymore, it was still him, and the fact Alex was keeping it close meant that he could tell where Alex was, what he was doing even if he wasn't visible to his eyes.

As the classes dragged on, Jack found himself easily bored, and he could tell that Alex was too. Jack wished that he had decided to play hooky again. Anything would be better than sitting through hours of boring lessons that he couldn't give two shits about. Why would he need to know what any of this stuff is when he and the guys make it big as rock stars, anyway?

Eventually, the end of the day had come all too slowly. Jack just wanted to go on back to Rian's so they could all hang out and practice together.

"Don't you have a redo-test?" Alex reminded him quietly, causing a loud groan from the taller boy as he was gathering his things from his locker so he could get ready to leave.

"Fuck, shit, goddammit." Jack didn't want to stay late. He felt like banging his head against his locker. At least that would be less painful than some dumb history test.

"You're the one that decided to skip yesterday." Alex reminded him, laughing a bit.

"If I could see you I would punch you." Jack said through gritted teeth. He could sense that Alex was standing close to his right, but he already felt strange enough talking to someone who wasn't really there. Beating up his friend that wasn't really there would probably look even stranger. With a reluctant sigh, Jack closed his locker and started making his way to the history room where he would have to take his makeup test.

As he made his way over, a group of three girls caught his eye, as they were glancing over at him and smiling. Just generally being flirty. That wasn't the first time it had happened today, either. People were actually starting to notice him for more than just his height. Even some upperclassmen were obviously hitting on him.

Being an incubus definitely had its perks.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't checking them out as well to see who he could be with next. His urges weren't too fierce at the moment, but once they were, he wouldn't waste his time deciding whether it was right or not to act upon them. Today was just proof that the humans were definitely interested in him, so he had no reason to feel bad about sleeping with any of them.

When he made it to the classroom, he saw Rian already sitting at one of the desks, and Jack slid into the desk closest him. "Let's just get this over with, yeah?"

Rian nodded in agreement. "Zack said he'd meet us at my house once we're done here."

The teacher handed the two of them the tests and the two got to work.  


Rian didn't seem to be struggling too much, but Jack on the other hand looked like he wanted to rip his hair out. The whole test seemed to be multiple choice, and Jack half considered just circling random answers and leaving it all up to luck. As much as he wanted to do that though, he knew he should at least be giving it a shot.  
At seeing Jack struggle, Alex got an idea and headed over to the desk Rian was at, looking at the answers he’d circled. With each answer he saw, he went back to Jack and pointed at the right answer for him. Realizing this is what Alex was doing, Jack was totally relieved, even if he was cheating off of his friend. The sooner he got this done the sooner they could leave and hang out again.

Thankfully with Alex's help, the two were done relatively quickly, and the three of them pretty much bolted out of the school to their bikes to hurry on over to Rian's.

<+><+>

When they made it to his house, they saw Zack already waiting for them, sitting on the porch. At seeing his friends show up, he stood up to greet them.

"Test wasn't too bad?" He asked as Rian unlocked the door to let them all inside.

"It was fine. I thought Jack woulda had a harder time but he seemed okay." Rian said, moving aside to let everyone in.

Jack just shrugged in response, mouthing a quiet 'thank you' to Alex who also shrugged. The sooner they finished the test the sooner they could all get back together. Really he was just helping him cheat for selfish reasons.

They all filed into Rian's basement, Jack sitting beside Alex and leaning against him for his warmth. Alex was getting used to this, figuring it would become commonplace for them to be close to each other like this because of the heat and cold. He didn't mind it, really. Jack had freed him, the least he could do was offer him some warmth.

The four of them sat, talking about really nothing in particular, and Jack felt his mind wandering. Zack was the only one here who didn't know what happened with him and Rian last night. He wondered if he should tell him. He probably should, he figured. It is never good to keep secrets-

"Tell me what?" He heard Zack ask, snapping him from his thoughts, which earned a frown from the incubus. "Oh, shit, sorry." Zack felt a bit embarrassed, having dug into his mind without permission. "I didn't realize it was something you didn't say-"

"I did the do with Rian last night." Jack cut him off, just saying to hell with it and putting it out there. Alex had accepted it. Rian had somehow oddly enough been okay with it. It wasn't good to keep something like that from his friend.

"You-uh-what?" Zack asked, looking from Jack to Rian.

"Sex, Zack. I got with Rian last night because I couldn't resist his amazing good looks and I'm a horny demon who couldn't help myself." Jack laughed and winked at Rian, who just rolled his eyes before cracking and laughing as well.

"And-and you're okay with that?" Zack asked.

Rian shrugged. Sex was never really that big of a deal to the drummer. After the 'thrill' of losing his virginity a couple years back, it kind of just registered in his mind as things that people just do. It just happens. "Well I wasn't happy, of course. I couldn't remember a damn thing. But it's what he is now." Rian shrugged again. "Incubi have sex, that's just what it is. And Jack is still my friend even after what Alex did so.." Rian looked at Jack with a grin before adding, "and maybe I should feel lucky that Jack thought I was attractive, yeah?" He couldn't help but laugh at his own statement, which Jack responded to by waggling his eyebrows at him.

"We still on for tonight, babe?" He teased, which just earned a pillow from the couch flying at Jack's face from the one in question.

Rian turned his focus back on Zack. "He said it wouldn't happen again, and I'm holding him to that." He glanced back over to the incubus. "Unless you want to be skinned or something then hey, go for it."

Jack laughed, but had a feeling that Rian wasn't exactly kidding, so his laugh died down as he half-snuggled against Alex's arm for warmth. "I won't do it again unless you're begging for me to, man."

"Don't plan on it." Rian laughed.

"You're just _okay_ with it?" Zack couldn't wrap his mind around it. If Jack had done that to him, despite being one of his best friends, he couldn't just forgive him like nothing happened.

Rian gave another shrug, still not seeing the big deal with it. It had already happened and he wasn't hurt or anything. It just wasn't really a problem to him. "We already talked about it earlier today. Besides, I'll get him back for it sooner or later." Rian grinned mischievously in Jack's direction, who just held Alex's arm up over his face to block his view. He knew he'd have to watch his back for the next few days.

Alex shook his arm away from Jack. "I'll keep an eye on him, he won't do it again."

_He better not, I can't say that I'm totally trusting him right now._

Alex raised an eyebrow at hearing Zack's voice in his head, but before he could question it, he heard it again.

 _Found out I could do this during class today._ Zack smiled a bit at Alex's direction, his mouth not having moved once aside from that. _More mind stuff, I'm guessing._

Alex nodded, figuring that much made sense. Fairies were known to be able to use all sorts of magic, but usually specialized in a particular variety of it. It seems Zack's calling was for magic dealing with thoughts, if he could implant his own thoughts into someone else's head like this.

As Alex thought this, Zack nodded as well. _I can hear what you're thinking, and make you hear what I want to say, it seems._

It could potentially be a dangerous power, Alex thought. If he really could make someone else listen to his thoughts, he could probably end up influencing their thoughts too and end up in some sort of weird mind-control situation. Maybe. Fairy magic was still a rather foreign thing to Alex.

 _I won't use my powers for evil. Much._ Alex heard, and Zack laughed quietly at that.

"Hey, you two done makin' bedroom eyes at each other?" Jack cut in, noticing Alex and Zack's looks at each other.

_Don't let 'em know I can do this. I wanna surprise them._

"Why, are you jealous?" Alex teased, earning a pout from the incubus.

"What? No, of course not. I'll just have Rian to myself again then." Jack got up to go sit beside Rian, but his advances were rejected by Rian pushing his chair away from Jack as he approached.

"Jack-" Rian warned, glancing up towards the light on the ceiling and making the electricity crackle a bit threateningly with his magic, although he really wasn't planning to channel the magic from that to hurt Jack.

"Yeah, yeah." Jack frowned in defeat, not wanting to risk it, returning to his spot beside Alex. "Can we just get to practicing already? If we aren't interrupting you two lovebirds, anyway."

"It's okay, we're done." Zack said with a grin, winking at Alex. "We'll save it for later."

And on that note, the four of them finally broke out their designated instruments to finally practice together as a full band.  
  
<+><+>

After a couple hours of playing, they decided to take a break and chose to watch a movie as they ate their expertly crafted mac-n-cheese and hot dogs for dinner, the extent of Rian's cooking ability when his parents weren't home. When they headed to the living room to decide on a movie, Zack brought the entire bottle of ketchup out with him, squeezing it all over his plate, on the hot dog and the macaroni alike.

"Geez, fuck man, want some hot dog with that ketchup?" Jack joked, never having understood the bassist's obsession with the condiment.

"Ketchup on mac-n-cheese...?" Rian questioned. The combination sounded disgusting to everyone aside from Zack, who just shrugged and squirted some of the ketchup from the bottle right into his mouth, earning a groan of disgust from Rian. "Man, I don't fuckin' understand you. Is that some fucked up fairy shit or something?"

Zack laughed a bit as Rian distracted himself by grabbing a bunch of dvds to choose from.

 _It started as something I'd do to piss 'em off, but I started to enjoy it._ Alex heard Zack tell him, which made the genie crack a smile.

"Alright here are our options." Rian offered, spreading out a bunch of movies on the floor for them to choose from.

"Home Alone is my shit!" Jack grinned, pointing out the movie.

"We watch that literally every time you're here, Jack." Rian rolled his eyes, shoving that dvd aside so it wouldn't be included in the choices.

"Oh come on, Rian!" The incubus complained.

"How bout this?" Zack suggested, pointing out the dvd of Remember the Titans.

"But I haven't seen that one before." Jack frowned, still bitter about his favorite movie not being an option.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Rian said, grabbing the movie and going to put it in the player. "Besides, it came out the other year, you've had plenty of chances to see it."

Jack huffed, plopping down on the couch. Alex followed suit, which just made Jack wrap an arm around him to keep his heat close.

Alex didn't push him away, in fact he leaned into it a bit to feel the cold coming off the other.

"Now now, don't get any ideas to go at it in my living room." Rian warned as he put the other movies away, and Jack just stuck his tongue out at him.

"Maybe if you put Home Alone in I wouldn't do just that."

"Don't even think about it when I'm in the same room." Zack said, sitting on the other side of Alex, which lead Rian to sit on the carpeted floor in front of them due to no more space on the couch.

"So when you leave the room, then-?"

"Fuckin' hell, Jack, the movie's starting, can you just shut up for once?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at Alex. "Maybe if you keep my lips busy I won't keep talking?"

Alex just groaned and rolled his eyes, ignoring Jack's comment as he tried to focus on the movie before him instead of Jack's half-assed attempts to hit on him.

Whether or not the incubus was just making a joke, he honestly couldn't tell.

"One thing you'll learn very quickly about Jack," Rian said to Alex quietly. "He can't shut up during movies." He laughed a bit. Honestly his friends were pretty weird, but now he was weird too, so he knew he couldn't exactly complain.

"Maybe I'll magic him up a muzzle." Alex pondered aloud.  
"Oh, wow, that's kinky." Jack smirked before breaking out into laughter.  
"Can you guys shut up please?" Zack practically begged as he paused the movie. "I like this movie and I'm sure you will if you just watch it." Zack appreciated his friends, honestly. But if they had ever taken the time to shut up and listen for once, they would understand why he liked the quiet much more.

"Fine, god," Jack frowned, holding Alex just a bit tighter. "Just a dumb fuckin' movie," he thought to himself, glaring a bit at Zack. If they wanted him to shut the hell up, they should have put on Home Alone. Seriously.

Then again, he would've ended up quoting the whole movie, so maybe not.  
After a while of quiet, Jack started to get noisy again, making sounds of boredom as he kicked his feet against the couch.  
Zack glared at him as his hand reached for the remote again, but he paused. Wait. There was definitely something better he could do.

He looked at Jack, smirking a bit. "Gerry gets paralyzed from the waist down," he sent to him telepathically. "Just before the big game. But the Titans win the state championship without him. And then you find out Gerry dies ten years later in a car accident where the driver was drunk."

"Wha-" Jack looked around, then at Zack. "Dude, why would you spoil that!?"  
"Spoil what?" Rian asked with a frown. "All that's been said is your whining."  
"Zack just spoiled the ending!" Jack insisted, not breaking his gaze from him.  
"My lips are sealed." Jack heard Zack's voice say, despite the fact that he hadn't opened his mouth.

"Why you fucker!" Jack tried to stand, ready to throw a couple (playful) punches, but Alex just grabbed his arm. Tight.  
"Sit," Alex demanded, pulling him back down to his seat. "Stay." He frowned, then laughed a little, then leaned a bit on him. If he was going to stay and be with these guys, he was going to steal Jack's chill. He was rather decided about it. Because he very much wanted to stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay theres no excuse for why this took so long to finish like it literally took me almost a year to write the last chapter and i apologize  
> but its done now!  
> but not entirely!  
> because there are gonna be sequels!
> 
> stay updated on mythomusicians . tumblr for the next fic stuff!  
> :,)

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fic in the works for a while and I figure that starting to post it will get me motivated to start writing in it again :^)  
> I hope y'all enjoy this because it's been one of my favorite things to write so far tbqh  
> xoxo


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